Last year, Kristin Haseldine had never been as tired as she was now.

The 37-year-old quit her job at the end of 2023 and moved back in with her parents in Adelaide.

“The last few years have been getting harder and harder, and I just couldn’t figure out why,” she said.

After recently being diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AuDHD), Ms Haseldine felt she had found an answer to the challenges she faced. She acknowledged that she was suffering from ‘autistic burnout’.

“Without any support or knowledge of what’s going on, your life goes into a downward spiral and you don’t know what’s wrong,” she said.

“You don’t know why you can’t seem to get it right. You don’t know why all those opportunities that seem like such a great chance just don’t work out.

Program to help people find work

Ms Haseldine is part of a group participating in an Australian Spatial Analytics (ASA) employment program to train and employ young people from neurodiverse backgrounds as geospatial data analysts.

Geospatial analysis uses software programs known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize and map data.

These spatial data have a wide range of applications: for example, they show where electricity grid infrastructure is located and help telecommunications companies keep track of where the NBN runs.

Amelia Noel, chief data analyst at the ASA, said the work is well suited to some neurodiverse people.

She said the program participants’ attention to detail, pattern recognition and memory retention were important skills in data analysis.

“Their brains are definitely better equipped to work with large amounts of data and they do it very well,” she says.

The ASA program has been strengthened by a $50,000 grant from the South Australian Government. This grant is designed to help disadvantaged people enter the workforce.

South Australia’s Human Services Minister Nat Cook said good data and analysis were essential for informing government policy.

“This kind of detailed work, this focused work on data, is absolutely perfect for a lot of people who live in the autism and autistic community. They can engage with it, learn, teach and really get involved in improving our community in general, using data with the skills that they have,” she said.

Providing work that matches the strengths of some neurodiverse people was just one part of the project.

Participants may have different sensory needs and making small adjustments can make the office environment a more welcoming space.

Cleaning products and soaps are fragrance-free, emails are broken down into bullet points so you don’t have to wade through redundant content, regular breaks are encouraged, personal success officers are available to support participants, and flexible working hours are offered.

For Mrs. Haseldine, removing the lights above her desk was a simple but useful change.

She said the office has been “remodeled for neurodiverse people.”

“If you compare a neurodiverse person to a neurotypical person in a neurotypical world, they’re not going to score well enough,” she said.

“It’s like asking a fish to ride a bicycle.

Small adjustments for a big effect

Ms Cook said about 20 per cent of the population lives with a disability, but their chances of finding long-term employment are half that.

“Hiring people with disabilities is not a cost, it is a benefit. We want more employers to get involved,” she said.

“And realize that, under the right circumstances, we can create better job opportunities for people with disabilities.”

Ms Noel said employers have much to gain from inclusion.

“I think every organization should have some of the things that ASA has… small adjustments are very easy to make,” she said.