Company Trains the Autistic To Test Software 419
Aspiritech, a Chicago based non-profit company, has launched a program to train high-functioning autistic people as testers for software development companies. The company says autistics have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work. Aspiritech is not the first company to explore the idea of treating this handicap as a resource. Specialisterne, a Danish company founded in 2004, also trains autistics. They hire their workforce out as hourly consultants to do data entry, assembly line jobs and work that many would find tedious and repetitive.
If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:5, Funny)
They own the future.
Re:I see it coming... (Score:5, Funny)
engineering is a more suitable job for me than say pole dancing
Agghhh!!! Image of engineer pole dancing... Thanks mate, you've just ruined my lunch.
Microsoft (Score:1, Funny)
This is no surprise Microsoft has been using the retarded as a QA team for windows security for YEARS
Aspiritech? Specialisterne? (Score:4, Funny)
Since 2004? That's nothing. (Score:2, Funny)
Slashdot has been hiring mentally handicapped people as moderators since 1997. Now that's truly groundbreaking!
in other news (Score:2, Funny)
Company Trains the Autistic To Test Software
But if somebody has written some software to train autistic people, it would be:
"Company Tests Software to Train the Autistic"
What if a weird consultant is to do some work for some developer tools company:
"The Autistic to Train a Test Software Company"
What if some ill behaved company is about to release its Railroad tycoon clone:
"The Autistic Company to Test Software Trains"
Re:If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:1, Funny)
Just because you only understand verbose programming (read: JAVA) doesn't mean there aren't millions of qualified programmers who understand concise code (read: C/C++). Also, read "less/more efficient to code" for "java/C"!
Re:Dupe (Score:5, Funny)
There have been corresponding declines [aappublications.org] in the diagnosis of mental retardation.
If anything there has been a huge increase. They just call it different things - autism, down syndrome, middle management, liberal arts...
Re:Dupe (Score:5, Funny)
... forum posting...
Re:If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:4, Funny)
Re:People... Austism does not equal Retarded! (Score:3, Funny)
It amazes me how you can make a diagnosis of my son, from what I am typing and how I type it.. I suggest you become the Doctor of all Doctors and stop trying to diagnose people by their grammar or spelling. My grammar may not be that great, but there were no spelling errors Mr Troll.
Anyway here are the definitions of them so you can make a more objectionable diagnosis Mr Miracle Doctor. I have marked with an hash (or pound) (#) the symptoms my son has, not all of them together are needed to make an autism diagnosis.
Mental Retardation:
Mental retardation is a condition diagnosed before age 18 that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living.
Symptoms
* Continued infantile behavior
* Decreased learning ability
* Failure to meet intellectual developmental markers
* Inability to meet educational demands at school
* Lack of curiosity
Note: Changes to normal behaviors depend on the severity of the condition. Mild retardation may be associated with a lack of curiosity and quiet behavior. Severe mental retardation is associated with infantile behavior throughout life.
Autism:
Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills.
Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old and seek help by the time the child is age 2. Children with autism typically have difficulties in:
* Pretend play
* Social interactions
* Verbal and nonverbal communication
Some children with autism appear normal before age 1 or 2 and then suddenly "regress" and lose language or social skills they had previously gained. This is called the regressive type of autism.
People with autism may:
* Be overly sensitive in sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste (for example, they may refuse to wear "itchy" clothes and become distressed if they are forced to wear the clothes)
* Have unusual distress when routines are changed *
* Perform repeated body movements
* Show unusual attachments to objects
The symptoms may vary from moderate to severe.
Communication problems may include:
* Cannot start or maintain a social conversation
* Communicates with gestures instead of words
* Develops language slowly or not at all
* Does not adjust gaze to look at objects that others are looking at
* Does not refer to self correctly (for example, says "you want water" when the child means "I want water")
* Does not point to direct others' attention to objects (occurs in the first 14 months of life)
* Repeats words or memorized passages, such as commercials #
* Uses nonsense rhyming
Social interaction:
* Does not make friends
* Does not play interactive games
* Is withdrawn
* May not respond to eye contact or smiles, or may avoid eye contact
* May treat others as if they are objects
* Prefers to spend time alone, rather than with others #
* Shows a lack of empathy
Response to sensory information:
Re:Dupe (Score:3, Funny)
Exactly my point. There probably aren't more actual cases of autism -- we just got better at identifying them as autism. (Now I feel like I overestimated the intelligence of the Slashdot crowd, assuming they'd all get the inference, and that I didn't need to spell it out.)
Re:If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:4, Funny)
Re:If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, but the future involves foraging for food and ammo in a post-apocalyptic world. Peak oil happened in 2007, my friend -- be prepared for the consequences.
Re:If they thrive on predicatable, monotonous work (Score:2, Funny)
I think I may have a mild form of hypochondria...
Re:Worked with one would love to have one as sidek (Score:1, Funny)
I don’t think you get it. Being brutally honest is not always a good thing.
For someone who is socially inept, it is hard to know when to take the edge off the truth.
“This bench is scratching my legs” should never be answered with “that’s because your shorts are too short.” Yes, I learned that the hard way.