In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum. Measuring outcomes and evaluating policy can be difficult.
At The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Elizabeth G. S. Munsell & Wendy J. Coster have an article titled "How have Participation Outcomes of Autistic Young Adults been Measured? A Scoping Review." The abstract:
Autistic young adults experience challenges participating in the workforce, post-secondary schooling, and living in the community. We examined how participation outcomes have been measured in autistic young adults. Articles (n = 113) were identified through database searches and citation tracking. Guided by current models in the literature, data were extracted for each measure of participation. Results include a description of the studies in the review, the extent to which participation across life situations has been addressed, and a critical analysis of the measures used to describe participation. While there is some breadth in the investigation of participation across diverse life situations, there is limited depth in what the measures capture and many measures used lack psychometric support.
From the article:
Although there is some breadth in the investigation of participation across diverse life situations, there is limited depth in what the measures capture. Often the same indicators have been used in multiple studies, with much more limited examination of more specifc features of autistic young adults’ participation. For example, employment is most often characterized as a dichotomous outcome, which does not provide insight into such issues as how long the person remains employed, what roles and responsibilities the person has at their job, whether the job matches the individual’s level of education and skill, or whether their compensation is at a level that might support economic independence, all of which are relevant considerations for long-term success.
