Autism at work campaigns: Are they creating inclusion in the workforce?

Since the mid-2000s, autism awareness campaigns have highlighted the socio-economic inequalities experienced by autistic people globally and increased community awareness. Each year, World Autism Awareness Day focuses on a specific theme, which in 2021 was inclusion in the workplace. Promoting an ‘autism advantage’ and ‘autistic talent’ has become a key social change technique to increasing employer interest in hiring and valuing autistic workers. This paper applies a critical lens to campaigns raising awareness about ‘autism’ (even seemingly positive ones) to draw attention to the pitfalls of the marketisation of autistic people and ‘autistic traits’, proposing Universal Design as an alternative approach. Scare quotes are used in the paper to highlight the contingent nature of particular concepts and categories.