Would'nt the best possible way to work for someone with autism be work-from-home (for jobs where it's possible) ? That way, they would have absolute liberty in setting up their work space.

@user3399 Autism isn't a condition that has a singular best way to accommodate. Some autistic people may best be accommodated by working from home. Others may not.

@JRodge01 It might be naive on my part, but would'nt the ability to set up their work space completely to their liking be the best possible way to accomodate them ?

@user3399 No, autistic people benefit from a structured environment. Working from home can cause more problems, plus isolation, which is not halthy

@GittingGud Yes, we'd benefit more. The point in my approach is it's more (god I hate this term) "inclusive". If it benefits everyone, even to a lesser degree than others, you are less likely to stir up resentment, or have the autistic people feel like they've been singled out. This isn't the best environment for a dialogue, if you'd like to email me, my contact info is in my profile.

A critical note about the LED lighting: Cheap LED lighting has a 60(50)Hz flicker and is capable of giving me a crippling headache in a couple of minutes.

Well defined policies and procedures and no: it's not acceptable that everything is a special case that doesn't have to follow procedure: change the darn procedure then.

You write "other employees would benefit" and "more than the autistic folks would benefit" as if it was obvious that other employees would get access to similar aids. It is not. And when some employees get the goodies like good headphones and "nap room", and unlimited breaks in a quiet room, and other does not, it is a recipe for animosity and hard feelings. I would suggest that you either go all the way and makes this free for all, or you don't, without segregation.

@user3399 using me as an example: at home I'm used to Not-Working, I relax out of habit and let myself be distracted by all the things in my home. At work my brain understands that this is the Working Place. The structure of being out of my home helps me get in the right mindset.

@Borgh I'm not (officially) on the spectrum and yet I feel the same way. Route from work to home is the time to shift mental gears between work and home. Of course, spectrum or not, each person is different.

@JoeStrazzere Well, I know that if I'm not having a meltdown, I won't call out.

@chrylis-onstrike- In my edit summary, I've posted a link to a video that explains this.

@Borgh Funny, I hear that a lot. People ask me whether I really got any work done when I was WFH four days per week, and why I'd want to do it again now that I'm WFH zero days per week. The answer is yes, absolutely tons. My output was easily five, six, seven times what it is now, and my stress levels were easily five, six, seven times lower, because (a) my brain had no problem programming at home, and (b) it was silent with no commotion. I never really got the "distractions at home" thing; there are far more distractions in the workplace. So I guess everybody really is different.

Imagine, if you can, the color orange being painful, and every time you saw it, it felt like someone kicked you. This is the exact feeling I get when I look at bad code.

You can also ask them if there is a problem with something. An autist can have problems with virtually anything, it can be a loud keyboard, or smell from the kitchen. Most things are usually fixable very easily. In general, what is annoying for a normal person can be quite stressful to an autist.

"Imagine, if you can, the color orange being painful, and every time you saw it, it felt like someone kicked you. Even when you know you're going to see it, you still feel the kick. Then, people around you are wondering why you are making such a big deal about the color orange. You, of course, not knowing that other people don't feel pain when they see orange, are going to wonder why you are so weak because they don't react to the pain they must be feeling, while telling you to stop making such a big deal of it." Bright orange used to make my teeth stand on edge when I was little...

@user3399 I'm autistic myself. I've tried working from home and it has too many distractions for me, I can't work properly at home.

I'm not autistic and I passionately hate cheap LEDs because of the flicker. My daughter is autistic and Richard's suggestions are strikingly similar to her IEP, especially occasional access to a "quiet room".

@TimothyAWiseman My eldest is autistic, and I have worked with other children with it as well.

Any environment free of loud, sudden noises is also good. From experience, do not put them next to the sales team. In fact, don't put the entire IT/dev dept. (or anybody else who needs to concentrate to do their job) anywhere near sales as those [redacted] are compulsively loud.

@squigbobble 100% on target!

@Borgh It doesn't take a whole separate building to create a workspace. I turned my spare bedroom into an office: desk, office chair, bright cool-white lighting, a kettle (so I can make tea without popping down to the kitchen). When I'm in that room, I'm working; when I leave it, I'm not. Works (!) great for me; I hate being distracted by co-workers while trying to think deeply, but that's much rarer at home.

Lighting person here. On flicker, reject all assumptions and test it with a spinning black/white thing (pinwheel). If you see ripples at any speed, you have flicker. If not, you don't. (or photocell+oscilloscope). And then, leave flicker to the lighting people. If somebody said "Can't have flicker" I'll make a beeline for a modern GE programmed-start ballast ($20) and real 90 CRI fluorescents ($2). They flicker less than incandescents and far less than random LEDs (whose CRI is also worse). Not what you'd expect, eh?