SAP to Work With Specialisterne to Employ People With Autism

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May 21, 2013

SAP to Work With Specialisterne to Employ People With Autism

WALLDORF, Germany — May 21, 2013 — In support of its mission to help the world run better and improve people's lives, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced it will work globally with Specialisterne to employ people with autism as software testers, programmers and data quality assurance specialists. SAP sees a potential competitive advantage to leveraging the unique talents of people with autism, while also helping them to secure meaningful employment. It is estimated that one percent* of the world’s population is affected by autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Specialisterne is an internationally recognized leader in harnessing the talents of people with autism to work in technology-oriented jobs such as software testing, programming and data management. Originally founded in Denmark, Specialisterne has operations around the world, including offices in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Iceland and Poland. As part of the partnership, Specialisterne will extend its operations to support SAP’s global expansion of the program over the next several years.

“By concentrating on the abilities that every talent brings to the table, we can redefine the way we manage diverse talents,” said Luisa Delgado, member of the Executive Board of SAP AG, Human Resources. “With Specialisterne, we share a common belief that innovation comes from the ‘edges.’ Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century.”

“We are very excited by this opportunity to enable SAP global access to a huge pool of untapped talent and therefore, help strengthen SAP’s position as a global leader in innovation,” said Thorkil Sonne, founder of Specialisterne and chairman of the board, Specialist People Foundation. “SAP is the first multinational company to partner with us on a global scale. The partnership will position SAP as thought leader and motivate the ecosystem to follow its example.”

The global announcement follows successful pilot projects in India and Ireland that demonstrate the positive impact of empowering people with autism to excel in their areas of strength. Working locally with Specialisterne, SAP® Labs in India hired six people with autism as software testers for SAP® Business Suite applications. As a result, the team has increased their productivity and cohesiveness in key areas. The Ireland pilot is currently completing the screening phase for five positions to be filled this year. SAP will expand the program globally, starting in the U.S., Canada and Germany in 2013.

At SAP, an inclusive and diverse environment promotes a culture that enables employees to find innovative solutions to challenges facing customers as well as society as a whole. Furthering its engagement with the local community of people and families affected by autism, SAP Labs in India recently developed a consumer iPad application called “Bol” to assist with the education of children with autism. This innovative learning program helps children learn and comprehend simple, everyday objects and processes, using auditory, visual and instant feedback functions.

I wish I could find some more specific information about how they help people with ASDs. Looking at the specific skills they are looking for, the fact that they have people working in teams and in traditional office environments, and the New York Times article report that "over eight years of evaluating autistic adults, Sonne has discovered that only a small minority have the abilities Specialisterne is looking for and are able to navigate the unpredictable world of work well enough to keep a job," it doesn't really seem that helpful to people with ASDs specifically. If only a small minority of testees with ASDs have the skills they need, then it doesn't quite make sense to me to bill the company as providing ASD-specific services. Might as well bill it as an attention-to-detail, perfectionist, techie, socially-awkward-but-not-too-introverted-or-sensitive employment service provider or something.

Last edited by starkid on 05 Jun 2013, 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And we can do a lot more than just be testers. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I hope that this is a stepping stone to promotion)

Temple Grandin in a speech several years ago said that people on the spectrum tend to have three types of general orientation, with some overlap:

1) math, and other abstract thinkers,

2) people who think in pictures like herself, and

3) people whose primary thinking style is story/narrative/language arts.

Which would be an absolute nightmare for me. I know techie autistics like myself are a commodity demographic with concentrated pockets in such companies, but that doesn't mean we've all found simplified lives.

I understand breaking the stigma of being a walking calculator, but I choose to live with the label because of how often I can help someone who really needs a computer, can't manage what they have or stands to lose a lot without access to thought-out technology. Being on-call tech support for the non-corporate world leaves far fewer people to maintain the full potential of humanity's vast arrays of advancing systems. Not to mention, I taught myself Linux starting at age 12, so kindly take your negativity elsewhere. I would really like to rent my own roof and stop driving on my last whisper of a clutch.

edit: Obviously, people with ASDs help one another, or none of us would be posting here.



The reason we're such a minority is because this concerns the other abstract thinkers subcategory, and while it depends on a lot of mathematics, computing is built around their logical implications. I use a lot more basic arithmetic and inference than I do hard math, and to a lesser degree this is also true of programming as well as testing.

I work for Specialisterne in Dublin and so will try to give you more information. You are absolutely right, it does feel like we are scratching the surface, however every person we help into work we hope will make a difference to that person. Also you are right, not every person we assess want to be testers, or have the skills for this area. I have met candidates who are pattern thinkers, detecting faults intuitively, and others who do not have skills in this area, but have many other skills. Through our assessment process we identify a range of skills. We try to look at each individual and to identify through observation in a work related task and then exploring in interview, what their skills and interests are and then work with companies to identify opportunities that match. Does that help?

Of course! Furthermore I feel I should point out that even if it doesn't create lengthy careers for everyone involved, the experience will. It's difficult enough convincing any given company you're worth it on your own. Specialisterne is really more of a consultancy built around the idea that computing, for many of us, is what stands in the way of ordinary social lives, and that it can help people back in reality weather they know so or not.

I have no idea what you are even talking about or how half of this is relevant to my comment. What is negative in your mind is neutral in mine.

No, because that is roughly what just about every employment service does. I wanted to know what is ASD-specific about the employment services.

I previously worked in IT Recruitment/ employment services roles and this is very different. The difference I see is that our team have knowledge and experience of Autism, and that we are looking to co-design and deliver a service with our candidates that will make a difference for them. The feedback we have got so far from candidates is that it is very different and a positive experience. Our assessment process uses Lego Robotics and is a fun and relaxed event, our consultants who subsequently interview candidates have a background knowledge of autism but are experienced enough not to assume what our candidates experience may be, rather to ask, so that we can profile our candidates accurately. We provide self-advocacy opportunities with client companies and train our clients to prepare the work environment in advance. We provide support in the workplace, as well as training and support in self-awareness (what tools are used around the world by people with aspergers in the workplace that may be suitable for me), technical training , hidden-curriculum or work culture training. Our candidates say that one of the best things is that they can just be themselves, and our aim is to help them get past the barriers they have previously experienced in getting and keeping a job.

I've been doing my homework on this firm for some time, and as Didrichs just hit the nail on the head, the ASD specific part is, by and large, the people. Spectrum individuals, inside or outside of Specialisterne are filling many roles ordinary people COULD, but the vast majority of ordinary people don't want to. I held a testing position that hasn't yet been filled in my absence, and that's precisely because, despite being more or less the most complacent minority on Earth, some aspies are among the tiny group of eccentric people who actually want to spend their own time on this type of work.

You failed to realize how many people like myself there are - how many people support open source projects day in, day out, so opinions such as yours reach their destinations. A lucky few, whom you're referring to, missed all the cracks in their educational situations and made it into corporate life.

What does being complacent have to do with wanting to do this type of work?


Again, I have no idea what point you are trying to make and how this comment is relevant to the one you quoted. You seem to think I have some mistaken idea about how many such people there are – but the comment you quoted is not about numbers, it's challenging the idea that the company's services are ASD-specific.

It's their stated purpose. Their role is to be sure talented testers and coders aren't taken advantage of by their employers, thereby allowing them to keep jobs longer. If perhaps, a misdiagnosed individual found their way to such a company, I imagine they'd still have a lot to offer, but that's reasonably unlikely.

[quote="cberg"
It's their stated purpose.[/quote]

That tells me nothing. Having a stated purpose and fulfilling it are not the same thing.