Microsoft Launches Pilot Program to Hire Workers With Autism

The technology industry has already been doing pioneering work to help educate children with autism.

Now Microsoft wants to see if it can also help on the job front: The company is launching a pilot program to hire people with autism.

The effort was announced in a blog post by Mary Ellen Smith, a corporate VP who has a 19-year-old autistic son.

“People with autism bring strengths that we need at Microsoft,” Smith said. “Each individual is different, some have amazing ability to retain information, think at a level of detail and depth or excel in math or code. It’s a talent pool that we want to continue to bring to Microsoft.”

In 2014, Microsoft added coverage to its self-funded insurance plan to cover a pricey but promising therapy for autistic children. That move was followed by a number of other tech companies, including Intel, Qualcomm, Apple, Cisco Systems and Oracle.

The tech industry has been working to bring awareness around autism and also to develop products that help. The iPad and other tablets combined with specialized software have been a particular boon.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you join us?

Our biggest supporters are our readers — and we’re so grateful to everyone who has made a contribution during our September campaign. We’re less than 1,000 contributions away from reaching our goal for the month, which in turn will allow us to say yes more often when our incredible journalists come to us with questions they want to answer and projects they want to pursue. Will you make a contribution before the month ends and support our policy coverage through 2024 and beyond?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via