Neurodiversity-Affirming Vocational Training for Adults with Autism
The landscape of disability employment is undergoing a tectonic shift. For decades, vocational training for autistic adults was built on a “Medical Model”—viewing autism as a collection of deficits to be remediated. The goal was often to train individuals to “mask” their autistic traits to make neurotypical colleagues more comfortable.
In 2026, we have moved toward the Neurodiversity-Affirming Model. This approach recognizes that autism is a natural variation in the human genome and that the primary barriers to employment are often environmental and social, not biological.
1. The Paradigm Shift: From “Fixing” to “Fitting”
Affirming vocational training begins with a radical rejection of the “deficit” mindset. Instead of focusing on what a student cannot do, we look at their Spiky Profile—the common autistic phenomenon of having extreme strengths in some areas (like logic or memory) alongside challenges in others (like executive function or sensory processing).
- Identity-First Language: Affirming