First, the first author really bugs me.
As a professional software developer, life isn't all rainbows and unicorns in this field. Every field has to deal with a certain amount of social interaction. In fact, it can feel downright abusive at times, when the only feedback you get on something you worked hard (and probably shed a few tears and grew a few gray hairs) over is how this doesn't work as expected, or that's "broken" or whatever. Additionally, most companies are still stuck in the 20th century and insist that you work at the office, which usually entails being put into a cube farm (this is bad for developers in general, let alone those with Autism).
That's not to say that all fields have the same amount of social interaction. Of course they don't, and engineering is more a meritocracy than most other fields, but there is still a huge social component to it, and social skills can and will still make or break you. I'm tired of my field getting painted as some haven for Autistics. That's just as dangerous, if not moreso, than going into a so-called neurotypical field without realizing that you're not suited to it for a number of reasons. Additionally, employment fields are not "neurotypical" or "autistic," in my opinion. They have certain attributes that a person, NT or AS, may or may not be suited for, and those attributes not only vary from field to field, but from individual job to individual job.
Additionally, I feel like she kept blaming the fact that she didn't get diagnosed until recently as the reason for her struggles. Even if you don't know that you're Autistic, how do you become an adult and spend almost two decades of it and not realize that you have sensory and/or communication issues? That seems like an extraordinary lack of self-assessment, and I suspect that her latching on to the Autistic label is doing as much to limit her as it is helping her.
That said, I think a lot of what she writes has a lot more to do with the shortcomings of the education of our kids and people in general, as well as our social "safety nets." James also touches on this in his essay.
As for the questions, I think they're the wrong questions to be asking.
I think the fact that welfare/SSI is a more sound economical decision than a lot of paid jobs illustrates what is so very wrong with our country's economic system. The social "safety nets" should be enough to keep a roof and food, but should be replaceable by a full-time job. Additionally, more of the lower-tier jobs need to be required to actually provide full-time employment. Too many retail and food establishments only employ people part-time, but then make them work 31.5 hours (32 is generally the cutoff between "full time" and "part time"), so that they get the most out of them, without having to pay benefits like health insurance. Additionally, the notion that minimum wage is a livable wage is based off of a 40-hour week. Losing those 8 hours of income at that level can mean the difference between paying the bills and being sent to collections. Something is seriously wrong with this picture, in my opinion.
I also think we as a society need to acknowledge that most "white collar" work
does not need to be done in an office. The idea that people work better when physically together is a load of bull, and especially so if the company puts forth the tiny amount of effort needed to get a digital communication infrastructure in place (ie - messenger, chat rooms, etc). If you spend your days on a computer, odds are, you don't need to be bound to a cubicle in an office. Even a lot of fields that deal a lot with people do not require a dedicated grouped office environment where people have to be if they're not out with a client. That notion, along with the "9 to 5" needs to die a horrible, painful death, if you ask me. That alone would go a long way to helping Autistics get jobs in whatever profession they want.
Both of these essays go a long way in finding out
why Autistics have issues with employment, and once we know why, we can work to address them.
The first issue mentioned was "life and career planning." Rachel is right in this one -- there's nothing with regard to what's expected, socially, in the workforce. School is "supposed" to teach that, but it really doesn't. I think we could help all of our youth if we explained that more. Narrow down your potential career paths through aptitude type tests, then provide more "shadow" days, where students can go to a typical office and see what it's like.
Additionally, I think all students should have to sit down and think about what they want in a work environment, beyond the type of job they want. Would they work better in an office or a cubicle? Bright lights or low? Spartan decor or warm and friendly? Big company with a lot of rule that may or may not make sense, or little startup with no real rules but the sometime arbitrary whims of the owner? Many of these types of questions may not be definitively answerable right away, but knowing at least which way you lean will help save you heartache in the long run, as you find careers and jobs that are more suitable to your work style.
We also need to stop having neurotypicals with no real idea what it's like to actually live with Autism (no, having an Autistic child does not count), be running Autistic-geared career development programs.
We should also not be discouraging people from going into business for themselves. Unfortunately, I don't know what career Rachel was trying to pursue that was so rigid that you couldn't succeed without being part of an office institution, but I highly doubt that the reality and what she was being told were the same.
Every single business ever created had to start small somewhere. Someone like Rachel could have been a disruptor in the way her industry operated, if she'd let herself and had been encouraged to take that chance. This one, I think, is huge. There are a ton of things people can do to earn income without actually being employed by someone else, you just have to be willing to go do the things that are out there.
Oh, and don't tell me you don't have the money.