Career progression for autistic people: A scoping review.

LAY ABSTRACT: Lots of autistic people are unemployed. Even when they are employed, autistic people might be given fewer opportunities than non-autistic people to progress in their careers. For example, assumptions about autistic people's differences in social communication might mean they are not given as many promotions. Indeed, we know that many autistic people are in jobs lower than their abilities (known as 'underemployment'). We reviewed 33 studies that tell us something about career progression for autistic people. Our review found that lots of autistic people want to progress in their careers, but there are many barriers in their way. For example, when they told their employer about being autistic, some people were given fewer opportunities. Research has also shown that autistic people do not get enough support to progress and that gaps in their employment history can make it difficult to progress. Our review suggested that good employment support (e.g. mentors) might help autistic people to progress in their careers. However, not much research has evaluated employment support for autistic people, which means we do not know how useful it is. Future research should find the best support that allows autistic people to live and work in ways that are meaningful to them.

Autistic Adults' Priorities for Future Autism Employment Research: Perspectives from the United Kingdom.

Background: A growing body of research has sought to understand autistic people's research priorities. Several of these studies have identified employment as a key research priority. Yet, there have been a few attempts to identify specific, actionable priorities within this area. Methods: Using an online survey, we asked 197 autistic people in the United Kingdom about their priorities for future autism-employment research. Results: Participants spoke of their challenges in gaining and sustaining meaningful employment and called for researchers to conduct research that results in direct improvements to employment experiences. Regarding their research priorities, participants indicated a need for research covering all aspects of the employment lifecycle from accessing employment to transitioning out of employment. Importantly, participants also discussed how such research should be conducted: with autistic people as co-researchers and ensuring a diverse range of autistic people are listened to. Conclusion: While much existing autism-employment research appears to align with the priorities outlined in this study, seemingly minimal attention has been paid to later stages of the work lifecycle (e.g., progressing into more senior job roles or transitioning out of work). By identifying disparities between autistic people's priorities and the research being conducted, we can support autistic people to drive the research agenda and ensure autism-employment research positively impacts the community it aims to serve.

Why was this study done?: It is important for autism research to identify and study topics that are important to autistic people. Employment has been highlighted as an important topic by autistic people in many studies. However, we don't know what specific topics employment research should look at. What was the purpose of this study?: We wanted to know which employment-related topics autistic people think are important to research and understand why. What did the researchers do?: We created an online survey to ask autistic people about what employment research should look at. The survey asked participants about themselves (e.g., their age) and their employment experience (e.g., if they were employed or not). We also asked questions about what employment topics should be researched, why these topics are important, and what changes employment research should lead to. In total, 197 autistic people responded. We read through all the responses and grouped similar responses together. What were the results of the study?: Lots of our participants found it hard to find and keep a job. They wanted research to make autistic peoples' experiences of employment better. For example, by making hiring processes better, and by making workplaces more inclusive. They also said that research should look at all parts of employment from getting a job, to leaving a job and retiring. Participants also talked about how research should be done. They said more autistic people should be included as researchers, and we should include different autistic people from different backgrounds. What do these findings add to what was already known?: Our findings show that lots of autism-employment research is on topics that autistic people think are important. However, not much research has looked at later stages of employment, such as getting a promotion or retiring. What are potential weaknesses in the study?: Most of our participants were White, female, employed and had a degree, but in the wider autistic population that isn't the case. People from other backgrounds may have different experiences of employment, and therefore want different research. We also don't know which topic is the most important because we didn't ask participants to rank the topics they spoke about. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: This study highlights key topics that autism-employment researchers should look at. By showing where the gaps in research are, we can make sure that all the employment topics autistic people think are important are researched.

Everyday executive function issues from the perspectives of autistic adolescents and their parents: Theoretical and empirical implications.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autism researchers have a long-time interest in a set of skills called executive function. These skills include planning, inhibition, and switching between one activity and another. There was a theory that these skills explained the social and thinking difficulties autistic people might have. After years of study into this, the evidence is confusing and contradictory. Autistic people tend to report struggling quite a lot with these skills. Yet, when researchers test these skills, they do not tend to find such big difficulties. In this study, we spoke to 12 autistic teenagers and seven of their mothers about this. We asked them what they thought about their own, or their child's, executive function skills. We wanted to know about things they were good at and things they struggled with. They told us that their skills were very changeable from one context to the next and from one time to the next. According to their reports, their skills depended on how motivated they were by doing the task. Another thing that influenced their skills were how anxious they felt at the time they needed to use the skill. Finally, they told us that sometimes they think differently about how best to perform a task. We discuss what these insights mean for autism researchers who study these skills. In future, research should ask people about their experiences alongside testing their abilities in different contexts. Combining these information sources will give us a better understanding of autistic people's everyday skills as well as how best to support them.

'It seems like a luxury to be able to offer that': Factors influencing the implementation of annual health checks for autistic people in England.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people are more likely to have mental and physical health problems than non-autistic people. Annual health checks could reduce these problems by finding and treating them early. Annual health checks are yearly medical appointments where a primary healthcare provider (such as a doctor or nurse) can check things like a patient's weight and heart rate and ask if they have any worries about their health. In this study, we wanted to understand what might encourage primary healthcare providers to use annual health checks with their autistic patients. First, we spoke to 10 autistic people and 11 primary healthcare providers. Using the findings from these conversations, we created an online survey for primary healthcare providers in England. We used the findings from the interviews and survey to help us understand what would encourage primary healthcare providers to offer annual health checks for autistic people. Our participants said that a lack of time and staff would make it hard to provide health checks. To help, they said other members of staff (such as nurses and healthcare assistants) could do the health checks, rather than doctors. They also said parts of the process could be made automatic to save time (e.g. sending automatic reminders). Knowledge about autism was important too (e.g. knowing about the common conditions autistic people have, and how to best support autistic patients). Participants said training on these topics, produced and delivered with autistic people, could encourage them to use annual health checks with their autistic patients.

Disclosing an autism diagnosis improves ratings of candidate performance in employment interviews.

LAY ABSTRACT: Employment interviews are challenging for many autistic people, for example, due to difficulties with interpreting questions. Autistic people also have differences in non-verbal communication, such as emotional expression, eye-contact, and gestures, with research showing that these factors negatively affect first impressions. Some studies have shown that perceptions of autistic people are more positive when the person observing them, such as an interviewer, is already aware of their diagnosis. However, previous research has not studied how disclosing one's autism diagnosis affects perceptions of a candidate undergoing a full employment interview. Participants in this study acted as raters, who watched a video of an autistic person undergoing a mock employment interview with a researcher, and then rated their overall impressions of them on factors important to real-world hiring decisions, such as confidence, motivation, and knowledgeability. Prior to watching the interview, raters were either (1) not aware of the interviewee's diagnosis, (2) made aware of their diagnosis, or (3) made aware of their diagnosis and provided with additional information about autism, such as differences in behaviours and communication. The results show that disclosing an autism diagnosis improved ratings compared to not disclosing the diagnosis. Providing additional information about autism alongside the diagnostic label did not improve ratings further. The findings are important for employers and autistic people; employers should consider improving procedures by which autistic people can disclose their diagnosis prior to interview should they wish, and autistic people may wish to consider the potential benefits of disclosing their diagnosis.

Evaluating measures to assess loneliness in autistic adults.

LAY ABSTRACT: There has been increasing interest in research on loneliness in autistic adults. Much of this research has involved giving autistic adults widely-used questionnaires that are thought to measure how lonely people are. However, these questionnaires have been developed for the general public. We do not know whether these questionnaires accurately measure how lonely autistic adults are. We asked 203 autistic adults to complete an online survey that included two widely-used loneliness questionnaires: (1) the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale Version 3 and (2) the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA). We also asked participants to rate how lonely they were from 1 (often/always) to 5 (never). Participants were then asked to give their views on the questionnaires (e.g. what they thought was good, and what they thought was not so good about them). We found that the scores on the UCLA scale and the SELSA aligned with participants' ratings of how lonely they were, which suggests that these two questionnaires accurately measure loneliness in autistic people. However, our participants also identified several ways to improve the questionnaires. This included (1) better distinguishing the characteristics/experiences of loneliness from those of being autistic; (2) better reflecting how loneliness may change at different times and in different contexts and (3) making the phrasing of the questions clearer. Overall, our autistic participants tended to prefer the UCLA scale to the SELSA. Therefore, we present some recommendations about how the UCLA scale could be changed to be more suitable for autistic people.

Evaluating a new supported employment internship programme for autistic young adults without intellectual disability.

LAY ABSTRACT: Internships designed for autistic people can help them to find employment, but there is little research about the experiences of those involved with internship schemes. To learn more about a new paid internship scheme in the United Kingdom, the Employ Autism network, we interviewed 19 interns, who were autistic young adults without intellectual disability taking part in one of eight different internships. We also interviewed 22 employers (who worked with the interns), and 10 parents (who supported their children in the internship). The interns, employers and parents told us that the Employ Autism network was a valuable experience that helped the interns become more confident. Also, the parents said it helped the interns become more independent. All the groups said the Employ Autism network removed common barriers to employment, and interns and parents said it would help interns get a job in future. Employers and interns said they understood each other better during the internship, and employers said the internship made them think about how their organisations might have accidentally had barriers in place that could stop autistic people getting employed (barriers that they wanted to address in future). However, all groups said some expectations of the internship were not met. These findings suggest the Employ Autism network is helpful for autistic young adults without intellectual disability and employers, but that there are ways that the internships could be improved in future. We discuss the lessons we can learn from the Employ Autism network that might help others who are thinking about setting up, or getting involved in, similar internship schemes.

The workplace masking experiences of autistic, non-autistic neurodivergent and neurotypical adults in the UK.

Masking entails hiding or concealing one's traits during social interactions. Research suggests that masking is particularly common for autistic people, though many non-autistic people also conceal aspects of their identity. Existing research has identified the key motivations and consequences of masking. No research to date, however, has considered how this might be affected by the social context in which masking is employed. This study compared the masking experiences of 285 autistic, 88 non-autistic neurodivergent and 99 neurotypical adults within a context in which masking is expected to be highly prevalent, namely the workplace. We used reflexive thematic analysis to explore the motivations, consequences, and contextual differences of workplace masking compared to other social contexts. Workplace masking was considered by participants in all three groups to be an adaptive response to a range of socially grounded workplace challenges and was usually employed as a strategy to safeguard against the threat of negative social and employment outcomes. Our non-autistic neurodivergent and autistic participants, however, reported experiencing unique pressures to mask, given the limited understanding of neurodiversity in workplaces and society more broadly. These findings have important implications for the wider masking literature and for workplace practice.

Access to employment: A comparison of autistic, neurodivergent and neurotypical adults' experiences of hiring processes in the United Kingdom.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people are less likely to have a job than non-autistic people. One reason for this may be that hiring processes (e.g. job applications, interviews) can be challenging for autistic people. To better understand the experiences of hiring processes in the United Kingdom, we asked 225 autistic, 64 neurodivergent (but not autistic) and 64 adults with no reported area of neurodivergence questions about their experiences using an online survey. We found a range of similarities and differences in responses. For example, participants in all three groups were frustrated with the focus on social skills in recruitment and said they wanted more practical methods (e.g. work trials) that help them show their skills and abilities. Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent participants discussed the importance of the environment (e.g. the interview/assessment room) in improving experiences. Participants also discussed how employers can impact whether somebody decides to disclose their diagnosis or needs - or not. Autistic people experienced some barriers to successful recruitment that non-autistic people did not. For example, autistic people felt they had to hide their autistic traits to gain employment and many autistic people were worried about being discriminated against if they disclosed that they were autistic during the hiring process. To make experiences better, our participants said that employers should offer candidates different recruitment methods and give them more information about the hiring process. They also said employers should improve their understanding of autism and other hidden disabilities so they know the challenges that people might face during recruitment.

Autistic adults' views and experiences of requesting and receiving workplace adjustments in the UK.

This article examines 181 autistic adults' views toward, and experiences of, requesting and receiving workplace adjustments in the UK. Using an online survey, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data relating to individuals' experiences. While the majority of participants perceived workplace adjustments to be important, many were not receiving them. Analysis of open-ended text responses highlighted specific challenges that autistic people face in requesting and receiving adjustments. Specifically, participants felt the onus fell on them to (1) identify their need for adjustments; (2) establish the specific adjustments that would be beneficial and (3) request adjustments from their employer. Yet, they reported struggling with this process. Participants also highlighted a range of social and organisational barriers to the successful implementation of workplace adjustments. Unsurprisingly, the lack of successfully implemented adjustments had far-reaching impacts on participants' wellbeing as well as the choices they made about their future employment. These findings highlight the need for employers to take a more active role in the identification and implementation of workplace adjustments, as well as a need for more understanding and inclusive working environments that truly allow autistic employees to thrive in the workplace.

Loneliness in autistic adults: A systematic review.

LAY ABSTRACT: Recently, researchers have been interested in how autistic people experience loneliness. Yet, most of this research has focused on loneliness in autistic children and young people. We present the results of a systematic review on loneliness in autistic adults. A systematic review is a rigorous way of searching for all existing research on a topic and summarizing the findings about specific questions. We searched for all research published on this topic until 9 April 2021. We found 34 articles that investigated loneliness in autistic adults. This research showed that (1) there is fairly little research that has involved directly asking autistic adults about their first-hand experiences of loneliness (e.g. what loneliness feels like for them); (2) few research studies have used loneliness questionnaires specifically developed for autistic adults (this was attempted in just one research study); (3) collective loneliness (i.e. loneliness associated with how much an autistic person feels they 'fit in' to society) seems important to autistic adults but has not been investigated as commonly as other aspects of loneliness (e.g. loneliness associated with romantic relationships or friendships); (4) things that might increase loneliness in autistic adults include anxiety and depression, and a lack of autism understanding and acceptance, for example; and (5) things that might reduce loneliness in autistic adults include having relationships and self-acceptance, for example. In our article, we discuss the kinds of future research on loneliness in autistic adults that might be useful.

"Knowing That I'm Not Necessarily Alone in My Struggles": UK Autistic Performing Arts Professionals' Experiences of a Mentoring Programme.

This research examined whether professional mentoring could have a positive effect on the occupational self-efficacy of autistic performing arts professionals. We compared the outcomes of one group who received mentoring to a waitlist control group. 26 participants took part in this study: 15 autistic mentees and 11 mentors, three of whom were also autistic. The mentoring programme was well received and felt to be beneficial by the participating mentees and mentors, particularly regarding gains in mentees' occupational self-efficacy. Professional mentoring also addressed several work-oriented challenges identified by autistic performing arts professionals such as feelings of isolation in the industry and need for consultation and advice on both a professional level, and for mentees with autistic mentors, also a neurodivergent one.

The Strengths and Abilities of Autistic People in the Workplace.

Introduction: At present, very few autistic people are employed, even though many want to be. It is important that their strengths are identified and valued to help them to find jobs that they enjoy, and that make good use of their skills. The aim of this study was to investigate what strengths autistic people have in the workplace, self-reported by autistic people themselves. Methods: In this study, autistic participants (n = 66) completed an online questionnaire that asked their views about employment-related strengths that they experienced. We analyzed these data using thematic analysis to identify commonalities across participants' experiences, and areas where they felt that they could perform better than their nonautistic colleagues. Results: The main strengths identified from these data revealed cognitive advantages such as superior creativity, focus, and memory; increased efficiency and personal qualities such as honesty and dedication; and the ability to offer a unique autism-specific perspective. Conclusions: Overall, this study suggests that autistic people have many employment-related strengths that should be recognized and valued by autistic people and employers alike. By understanding the strengths that could be associated with autism in the workplace, autistic people may be better able to identify their own strengths in the workplace (with the help of support workers, where necessary). The results should also encourage employers to make an effort to recruit and retain autistic employees, making appropriate adjustments to interview processes and working conditions, and seeking out training when needed.

Why was this study done?: At the moment, very few autistic people are employed, even though many want to be. One reason for this might be that nonautistic people focus on things that autistic people find difficult, and ignore things that autistic people can do well. To address this, it is important to make people more aware of strengths that autistic people have, and make sure that they are valued. What was the purpose of this study?: We did this study to find out what strengths autistic people have in the workplace, as suggested by autistic people themselves. What did the researchers do?: In this study, we asked autistic people to fill out an online questionnaire that asked their views about the strengths that they experienced at work. A total of 66 people completed the questionnaire. We read through everyone's answers, and put them into groups of similar responses. In that way, we could identify the areas where the autistic participants felt that they could perform better than their nonautistic colleagues. What were the results of the study?: The participants in our study wrote about many areas of strength and skill at work. The main strengths that they mentioned were advantages related to ways of thinking (like being able to pay attention to tasks well), getting tasks done more efficiently, and personal qualities such as honesty and dedication. They also wrote about how being autistic meant that they could offer a unique view on situations at work. What do these findings add to what was already known?: This was the first study to look at autistic people's experiences of skills in the workplace. Other studies have considered skills more generally, rather than focusing on employment­or have used other people's views about autistic skills, rather than autistic people's own views. What are potential weaknesses in the study?: To take part in our study, people had to be able to fill out an online questionnaire. This can be difficult for people with intellectual impairment or other language/communication difficulties, which means that some autistic people might have been excluded from our research. More research should be done to understand the skills of people with a wider range of communication differences. Those who took part in our study were also different from the autistic population as a whole­for example, most were female and worked in education. This means that we should not presume that the strengths found in our study are shared by all autistic people. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: We think that these results could be important to employers, those working with autistic people, and autistic people themselves. By understanding the strengths that could be associated with being autistic in the workplace, autistic people may be better able to identify their own strengths in the workplace. This may enable them to find a job that they enjoy and excel at. The results should also encourage employers to make an effort to give jobs to autistic people, making changes to interview processes and working conditions, and seeking out training when needed. Overall, this study suggests that autistic people have many employment-related strengths that should be recognized and valued by autistic people and employers alike.

Experiences of autistic and non-autistic individuals participating in a corporate internship scheme.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people can find it difficult to find and keep a job, and fewer autistic people are employed compared with people from other disability groups. There is not enough research in this area, especially research that directly compares the experiences of autistic and non-autistic colleagues starting in an organisation at the same time. Our study looked at the experiences of autistic and non-autistic people taking part in an internship at Deutsche Bank, UK. We spoke to the interns before the internship began, and again once it had finished. We also asked the interns' hiring managers about their experiences of the internship. We used interviews and online questionnaires to find out people's views. Before the programme began, managers of autistic interns were more worried about the internship than managers of the non-autistic interns. They were worried about providing the right level of support, communicating successfully and treating all their employees fairly. At the end of the internship, everyone felt that the internship was a success. Managers of autistic interns explained how the experience had made them better managers. Both groups of interns and said that they benefitted from clear communication and would have likes more support. Managers of autistic interns spoke about dividing tasks up into smaller chunks and being flexible in their communication were helpful when working with the autistic interns. More work is needed to make sure that autistic interns are integrated alongside non-autistic peers. One way to make this happen might be to create guides for managers.

Comparing the Executive Function Ability of Autistic and Non-autistic Adolescents with a Manualised Battery of Neuropsychological Tasks.

Performance on a single executive function (EF) task (e.g., a card sorting task) is often taken to represent ability on the underlying subcomponent of EF (e.g., set shifting) without accounting for the non-specific and non-executive skills employed to complete the task. This study used a manualised battery of EF tasks to derive individual task scores and latent EF scores. Seventy-nine adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years, including 37 autistic and 42 non-autistic participants, matched on cognitive ability, completed the battery. Autistic adolescents had moderate global EF difficulties and had significantly more difficulties on some individual tasks. However, the samples did not differ on any of the specific individual subcomponents of EF (fluency, cognitive control and working memory).

UK-based specialist dental professionals' experiences of working with autistic patients.

AIMS: Previous research has demonstrated that autistic individuals often experience difficulties accessing dental care, both as a result of autism specific difficulties and practitioners' attitudes towards autism. However, very little research exists that explores dental professionals' experiences of providing care to their autistic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the strategies UK-based dental professionals' use when working with autistic patients METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, dental professionals (n = 16) from a variety of specialty roles (special care, paediatrics, orthodontics) were interviewed. We asked participants to talk through, in depth, specific cases they had encountered in their practice, what sorts of accommodations they had provided, and what concerns had arisen during appointments. Thematic analysis was used to analyses the data and revealed four main themes: the unique dental needs associated with being autistic, effective adaptations to practice, the crucial role of the caregiver, and the importance of specialist knowledge CONCLUSION: Recommendations for how dentists can improve the dental experiences of autistic patients can be drawn from the specialist dentists' responses in this study. These include involving autistic patients in decisions about their treatment and being flexible and willing to work with autistic patients and their caregivers.

Intact Goal-Driven Attentional Capture in Autistic Adults.

BACKGROUND: Autistic individuals have been found to show increased distractibility by salient irrelevant information, yet reduced distractibility by information of personal motivational salience. Here we tested whether these prior discrepancies reflect differences in the automatic guidance of attention by top-down goals. METHODS: Autistic (self-reported diagnoses, confirmed with scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale) and non-autistic adults, without intellectual disability (IQ > 80 on Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence), searched for a color-defined target object (e.g., red) among irrelevant color objects. Spatially uninformative cues, matching either the target color or a nontarget/irrelevant color, were presented prior to each display. RESULTS: Replicating previous work, only target color cues reliably captured attention, delaying responses when invalidly versus validly predicting target location. Crucially, this capture was robust for both autistic and neurotypical participants, as confirmed by Bayesian analysis. Limitations: While well powered for our research questions, our sample size precluded investigation of the automatic guidance of attention in a diverse group of autistic people (e.g. those with a range of cognitive abilities). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings imply that key mechanisms underlying the automatic implementation of top-down attentional goals are intact in autism, challenging theories of reduced top-down control.

Dental experiences of a group of autistic adults based in the United Kingdom.

AIMS: Previous international research has shown that autistic people have difficulty accessing dental care due to sensory processing, anxiety and communication issues. However, it is not known whether autistic adults in the United Kingdom are experiencing similar dental care barriers. The current study investigated autistic adults' dental experiences in the United Kingdom. METHODS AND RESULTS: A mixed methods survey was given to self-selecting autistic (n = 37) and non-autistic adults (n = 43) to compare whether autistic individuals had more negative experiences than non-autistic individuals. Closed questions asked about anxiety, patient-practitioner communication, satisfaction and the dental environment. Open questions asked about autism-specific dental challenges, what works well at the dentist, and improving autistic individuals' experiences. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Overall, results demonstrated that autistic adults in the United Kingdom have more negative dental experiences than non-autistic adults. These predominantly related to interactions with dental practitioners, a challenging sensory environment, anxiety, pain, and disclosure. Participants recommended sensory environment adaptations, ways to increase preparedness, longer appointments, and individual accommodations. CONCLUSION: This study offers best-practice strategies for working with autistic patients and highlights the importance of dentists working with autistic individuals to maximize the quality of care and outcomes for this underserved population.

Autistic traits and loneliness in autism are associated with increased tendencies to anthropomorphise.

Anthropomorphism-the attribution of human qualities to non-human objects-is believed to be a natural tendency which may serve several adaptive functions. One possibility is that anthropomorphism provides an egocentric heuristic by which we can understand the world. It may also be a strategy for reducing our subjective sense of loneliness. However, not all humans exhibit the same propensity to anthropomorphise. Recent findings suggest that autistic individuals may be more likely to anthropomorphise than non-autistic individuals. In Study 1, we conducted a large-scale survey of autistic traits and dispositional anthropomorphism in the general population (n = 870). We found that individuals who reported having more autistic traits had an increased dispositional tendency to anthropomorphise non-human entities. In Study 2, we more closely examined variation in anthropomorphism tendencies in a sample of autistic adults (n = 90) to better understand what might drive increased anthropomorphism in this population. We found that those with greater anthropomorphism tendencies experienced greater levels of self-reported loneliness. We propose that increased anthropomorphism might reflect reduced opportunities for social connection for autistic people and those with more autistic traits.

Higher levels of autistic traits associated with lower levels of self-efficacy and wellbeing for performing arts professionals.

This study sought for the first time to identify the extent to which autistic people are pursuing careers in the performing arts, and to determine the nature of the relationship between individuals' autistic traits and their reported wellbeing. To address these aims, we recruited a self-selecting, community-based sample of individuals working in the performing arts and invited them to complete an online survey. A total of 1,427 respondents took part. We collected responses on participants' backgrounds, including diagnostic history as well as measures assessing their level of autistic traits, perceived occupational self-efficacy, quality of life, and mental health. They were also asked open-ended questions about support needed, received, or desired in their workplace. Eleven of the 1,427 professionals (1%) reported a clinical diagnosis of autism. Correlational analyses demonstrated that higher levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with lower levels of quality of life, lower levels of occupational self-efficacy and greater severity of mental health conditions. Almost half the sample of professionals (N = 621; 44%) reported a desire for more employment-based support, and autistic traits were significantly higher in those participants who wanted greater support. Within the community of those working in the performing arts, there are a minority of individuals who are autistic or who have high levels of autistic traits. We have demonstrated for the first time that these individuals may be especially vulnerable to lower wellbeing.