'Agricultural specialisterne': rural employment revolution for those with Autism

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Detour to: segregation for well designed work environments where Autistics can thrive

“…the heart of the brief cannot be written down. It has to come from an understanding of the autistic mind …This understanding can only come with time and patient observation…”
Christopher Beaver, GA Architects

Specialisterne (‘the Specialists’ in Danish) seeks to harness strengths that many people with Autism Spectrum Disorders possess - good attention to fine details, precision, and high tolerance for repetitive tasks. They bring the joy of work into areas where it is often missing today. While Specialisterne favours an inclusive approach, with the majority of the company’s consultants located on clients’ premises, the environment is altered for their consultants’ specific needs as much as possible. These specific needs would have been studied, via observation of and input from consultants with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, for that social enterprise model to succeed.
(sources: Autism-friendly environments: a review - | autism | Asperger syndrome |)

Marcus Adrian is a principal with Mackey Mitchell Architects (MMA) in St. Louis, Missouri. He has put together a team of architects to teach the software program ‘SketchUp’ to students with Autism at Touchpoint Autism Services. According to a 2009 Newsweek article:

…[Touchpoint] is building a new lab to teach SketchUp in collaboration with Mackey Mitchell Architects, a firm that is eager to tap the design insights of people with autism. The kids will be taught how to use SketchUp and asked to create their ideal living and learning spaces. [Touchpoint CEO Ron Ekstrand] says he hopes to incorporate these dream spaces into designs for a future school campus and for residential homes that the center runs for adults with autism. Mackey Mitchell hopes to merge the students’ ideas into architectural plans for an even larger autism community, creating new classrooms, schools, living spaces and treatment centers nationwide that are specifically designed for the growing number of people on the spectrum…

MMA has already been involved in various projects related to Autism including the design for the new Southeast Missouri State University Autism Center (SEMO) as well for The Autism Program at Illinois State University. In future projects related to schools for children with special needs, the design insights tapped from the Autistic children at Touchpoint may be especially useful.

The 2010 Sketch-a-Space competition offered people (living with and without Autism) an opportunity to design their ideal, dream space using Google’s 3-D modeling software, SketchUp. Understanding the environmental sensitivities of some individuals with Autism and creating spaces that accommodate them is what the competition was all about. Two of the top five entries (including the $2000 Grand Prize winning entry), came from people living with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Easter Seals: Sketch-A-Space

Included in the list of five judges for the competition, was a young man with Autism. Maurice Snell’s ability to analyze entries through the eyes of a person with Autism was important for this competition:

…Maurice Snell
Classroom Aide and Mentor, Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago

Maurice Snell is lending his expertise to Sketch-A-Space to ensure an end-user perspective. As a man living with autism, he is personally aware of the unique needs of individuals on the spectrum.

…Maurice was employed by Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago when it was building the new Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research in the Illinois Medical District. Maurice provided insight and information to the architects regarding the unique needs of the students with autism whom would be attending the school.

(sources: Marcus Adrian; SketchUp: Why Kids With Autism Love It - Newsweek; Mackey Mitchell Architects; Easter Seals: Sketch-A-Space; Easter Seals: Sketch-A-Space Judge Bios)