Autism at Work
SAP’s groundbreaking Autism at Work program, launched in 2013, leverages the unique abilities and perspectives of people with autism to foster innovation. The program taps into an underutilized talent source, reducing barriers to entry so qualified individuals can fully develop their potential. When in 2015, the tech giant Microsoft announced that they were launching a pilot program to hire autistic workers, they received more than 700 resumes within a few weeks. By all accounts, giving those on the spectrum an opportunity to use their talents productively has been a tremendous success.
Instructions
Flow
Brief the participants. Ask all participants to stand up. Tell them that you are going to give them instructions on which direction to look. They have to turn their head (only their head, not the body) and look in the appropriate direction.
Explain the details. When you say, “Up”, the participants should tilt their head and look at the ceiling (or the sky). When you say, “Down”, the participants should lower their head and look at the floor (or their feet). When you say, “Left”, the participants should turn their head to their left. When you say, “Right”, the participants should turn their head to the right.
Give directions. Say the words up, down, left, and right in a random order and encourage the participants to follow your instructions. Keep giving directions at a fairly rapid pace.
Change the meaning of the words. After about a minute, tell the participants that you are going to make a change. From now on, up will mean down and vice versa. So when you say “Down”, the participants should look up at the ceiling. Similarly, when you say “Up”, the participants should look down at their feet. Explain that the meaning of the words left and right remain the same. Call out the four directions in a random order and ask the participants to follow instructions. Remind them, however, that they have to remember the new meaning of the words up and down. You will see many “mistakes” and lots of embarrassed laughter.
Conclude the session. Announce the end of the activity after about another minute.
Debriefing
Ask the participants how difficult it was to follow instructions when the meanings of words were changed. Ask them to discuss any similar experiences they might have had in their real life.
Learning Points
- It is difficult to learn new concepts without unlearning some old concepts.
- The old way of doing things interferes with learning new procedures.
Tips for running this activity online
- A simple activity to run online - so long as you have everyone on webcam and present in your video conferencing tool, this one is run in very much the same way as a live workshop!
- Preferably have a gallery view turned off for all participants, so everyone can see everyone during this exercise.
