High-functioning autistic people to work as testers for software companies?

Brix, 54, is currently on the board of Aspiritech, a company that trains high-functioning autistic people to work as testers for software companies. He works on homework for a class on Java programming at his Westmont, Illinois home. He believes autistics can thrive in a job environment where intense attention to detail, single-minded focus and a willingness to work on something repetitively until perfect are required.

The developmental condition, which strikes about 1 in 150 U.S. children, is considered a "spectrum disorder" because it affects people in many different ways to varying degrees, from mild social troubles to a severe inability to communicate.

But there is now  growing appreciation for the disorder as more companies around the globe are looking to transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills.

In the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech - whose board includes Brix and actor Ed Asner - recently launched a pilot program to train high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago.

In Denmark, the company Specialisterne (the name means "the specialists"), trains people with autism as specially skilled employees who are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to do data entry, assembly work and other jobs that many workers would find tedious and repetitive.

"The stuff we do is boring for [others], like going through a program looking at every detail, testing the same function over and over again in different situations, but it doesn't disturb those of us with autism," says Thomas Jacobsen, an autistic employee at Specialisterne. "That's our strength."