04/07/2025
I wrote an autism awareness post on LinkedIn to share with my corporate network. Sharing here for anyone who's also in corporate. Will link to my LI post at the end if you'd like to share it with your network as well...
"Coming out" as autistic in Corporate was terrifying for me. And for autism awareness month (April) I'm going to share why it was something I had to do.
Autism is one of the most misunderstood conditions that exist... in general, but in Corporate specifically.
The rate of unemployment and underemployment for autistic people is shockingly high, but the rate of undiagnosed adult autistic people, particularly "high masking" (aka got really good at hiding it out of a desperate need for self preservation) is also shockingly high...
And though I don't have stats on the exact number of us in Corporate... my educated guess is that it's incredibly high as well.
In other words, you probably work with an autistic person (or several) and don't know it. And would probably never even consider they're autistic.
And many of us who've "made it" in Corporate (unfortunately, there are many of us who don't 💔) are objectively successful. Which is part of the reason you would never consider we're autistic...
We're respected for being intelligent and insightful... an expert in our area... highly and impressively creative at solving complex problems...
Many of us are even considered extremely likeable and social. (Not all, but this post is meant to challenge preconceived notions, so be aware that we can be these things even though autistic people are often thought of as neither).
We can also be extremely adaptable and highly skilled at adjusting to change (even though the stereotype says otherwise).
In fact, in many cases, our autism doesn't impact those around us at all... while causing us *significant* difficulty and hardship on a regular basis.
It's a bit like everyone around us is climbing a hill, and we're climbing Everest. It's not impossible to reach the top, but it's a million times harder... and significantly more (emotionally & mentally) costly.
We deal with sensory overload and sensory anxiety. (In my case this led to a stress induced heart attack at 34)
We deal with extreme anxiety when our personal routines are disrupted (you probably wouldn't see this though).
We deal with anxiety around unwritten social and professional rules. (It's a bit of a minefield in Corporate. 20+ years in, and I still discover new ones all the time that I didn't know about)
We deal with anxiety around communication differences... anxiety around social expectations... anxiety around what we wear, what we say, how we act...
But if we've climbed our Corporate mountain high enough, you probably have no idea we're struggling because we've gotten really good at hiding it.
So, for autism awareness month, if you're going to take one thing away from this post, let it be this...
If you meet an autistic person who was brave enough to disclose this about themselves, or if you meet someone you suspect might be autistic... don't make assumptions about them. Because if you do, you'd probably be wrong.
Thanks for reading, and happy autism awareness month. 🙂
My LI post...
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicolefilippone_coming-out-as-autistic-in-corporate-was-activity-7314999407739879426-e2Sd