Search results

In India, one in 500 people (Balaji, 2019) are diagnosed with ASD. Around 40 non-governmental organizations cater to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children; out of that, a few organizations focus on adults providing them vocational training to make them employable. One such exercise was initiated by SAP Labs India, a leading software company, and Enable India, an Indian NGO where they developed a focused training program for people with ASD and placed them in vital technical jobs in SAP Labs India (Karwa, 2016). First, we peek into the lifestyles of a few successful neurodiverse rock stars in India and their journey from becoming aware of their profile to establishing a career and becoming a role model to other people with ASD. Second, we present the autism landscape in India. Third, we explore the organizations that have hired people with ASD, their policies connected to neurodiversity, and the organizations that give training and support. Fourth, we present the potentials and the challenges people with ASD face. Fifth and final, we cover the role of different stakeholders to foster support and up-skill people with ASD for better community development.

This chapter is a comprehensive discussion of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across the globe (e.g., United States, China, Brazil, Japan and Turkey). Topics that are discussed include the following: diagnostic criteria and approaches; international perspectives of ASD; western and eastern assessment practices; cultural considerations of assessment of ASD; educational and medical interventions; behavioral and emotional interventions; complementary and alternative medical interventions; variations in educational services among countries; early intervention practices; adult services; national and international resources; and current needs and future directions.

India has one of the more progressive disability frameworks in the developing world which tends to adopt western philosophies and principles (e.g. parent participation and advocacy) which to some degree mirrors the type of service delivery in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a cross-cultural perspective to explore caregiving amongst parents caring for a child with intellectual/developmental disabilities in India.

Three focus groups were used to interview parents at Action for Autism (AFA) located in Delhi, India. The focus groups explored how disability is encountered within an Indian context.

Two main themes were identified in the parents narratives which were “making the decision to get help” and “seeing disabilities in from a new perspective”. Family members played an important role in the decision to get help and acted as a platform for mothers to explore their own concerns. Seeing disability from a new perspective was a four stage process which included initially accepting the diagnosis and their child; regaining control through parenting skills training; witnessing positive changes in their children and themselves and reaping personal benefits as a result of their involvement with AFA.

The research is very small scale and focused on parents in a specific organisation, as a consequence the results cannot be generalised.

The discourses of these individuals do provide a useful insight into the provision of services to children in India and provide a starting point for cross-cultural understanding of parenting children with disabilities.

Purpose: We critically examine the idea of neurodiversity, or the uniqueness of all brains, as the foundation for the neurodiversity movement, which began as an autism rights movement. We explore the neurodiversity movement's potential to support cross-disability alliances that can transform cultures.

Methods/Approach: A neurodiverse team reviewed literature about the history of the neurodiversity movement and associated participatory research methodologies and drew from our experiences guiding programs led, to varying degrees, by neurodivergent people. We highlight two programs for autistic university students, one started by and for autistics and one developed in collaboration with autistic and nonautistic students. These programs are contrasted with a national self-help group started by and for stutterers that is inclusive of “neurotypicals.”

Findings: Neurodiversity-aligned practices have emerged in diverse communities. Similar benefits and challenges of alliance building within versus across neurotypes were apparent in communities that had not been in close contact. Neurodiversity provides a framework that people with diverse conditions can use to identify and work together to challenge shared forms of oppression. However, people interpret the neurodiversity movement in diverse ways. By honing in on core aspects of the neurodiversity paradigm, we can foster alliances across diverse perspectives.

Implications/ Values: Becoming aware of power imbalances and working to rectify them is essential for building effective alliances across neurotypes. Sufficient space and time are needed to create healthy alliances. Participatory approaches, and approaches solely led by neurodivergent people, can begin to address concerns about power and representation within the neurodiversity movement while shifting public understanding.

The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) is a widely used tool to quantify autistic traits in the general population. This study aims to report the distribution, group differences and factor structure of autistic traits in Indian general population. The work also assesses the criterion validity of AQ across three patient group samples – autism spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive-compulsive disorder and social anxiety disorder.

In this study, psychometric properties of the adapted AQ were assessed among 450 neurotypical university students matched for age. Confirmatory factor analysis was done to see if the adapted AQ fits the original factor structure. Test–retest, internal consistency reliability and criterion validity were found out. Group differences (gender and field of study) in AQ were also assessed.

Autistic traits were found to be continuously distributed in the population, and patterns of group differences were consistent with previous studies. The adapted AQ had five factors resembling the original factor structure with a good fit, and 38 items instead of the original 50 items. Acceptable reliability coefficients were demonstrated along with criterion validity across clinical groups.

This work is the first to present the pattern of distribution and factor structure of autistic traits among neurotypical adults from Eastern India, a culturally different population, as well as a reliable and valid tool to assess autistic traits in Bengali, a language with 300 million speakers. The findings add to the growing literature on AQ measurement and the concept of autism as a quantitative trait, examined outside of the western samples.

The primary learning objectives/outcome of case discussion is to apply design thinking principles to design innovative and socially responsible strategies that promote financial sustainability for organizations serving unique societal needs. The secondary learning objectives/outcome of case discussion is to gain a deeper appreciation for the potential social impact of their innovative ideas and understand the complexities and ethical considerations in social entrepreneurship, especially when working with individuals with special needs.

The case study describes the challenge facing Anil Kumar Kundra, the founder and trustee of Autism Ashram and Autism Guardian Village in Hyderabad and Gujarat, an organization that provides shelter and care for individuals with autism and residential facilities for their parents. Autistic individuals often lack social skills and may face challenges in reading, writing and communicating. In addition, they may experience behavioral issues, making it difficult for them to obtain employment or run their own ventures, resulting in a lifetime financial dependency on their guardians. In August 2023, Kundra, in pursuit of sustainability, aims to empower autistic individuals in the ashram to attain financial independence. He envisions Autism Ashrama as a self-sustaining entity, no longer dependent on contributions from parents. The dilemma facing Kundra is the need to identify innovative ideas that will enable these autistic individuals to contribute to revenue generation. The challenges faced by autistic individuals in their day-to-day lives make Kundra’s decision-making complex. While he acknowledges the challenge, he firmly believes that a handful of transformative ideas can bring about a revolutionary shift in the ecosystem for autistic individuals, rendering this business model truly sustainable. The case study invites students to help Kundra identify innovative ideas using design idea techniques, such as the Stanford d.school model.

This take-home assignment is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and is designed to explore the integration of sustainable business practices and design thinking in a real-world context.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

The purpose of this paper is to compare experiences of two parents of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) differing in gender, including their daily routines at school and at home, challenging behaviour, social support and future plans for their children.

The parents of the two adolescents with ASD were interviewed with open-ended questions related to their children as well as their personal experiences, along with getting their individual responses for the established Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).

There were similarities and differences in the parents’ experiences with their adolescent children with ASD. Similarities included a limited social support outside their families, hopes for the future of their children, where in they emphasised the need for some “normality” for their child, and a lack of plan in terms of legal guardianship and written wills after their own time. Some of the differences were also noted in the parents’ description of symptoms of their children, with the father of the female adolescent reporting more negative experiences both with his child, as well as with his spouse, a lack of social support and, subsequently, more “dissatisfaction” on the SWLS than the mother of the male adolescent.

One of the major limitations of this study is the absence of feedback from the other parent besides the one being interviewed, due to which only one parental perspective was provided here.

There are vital social implications of this study. Both parents reported a limited social support due to which they expressed the need for increasing awareness for ASD in the general society. These findings illustrate the need for a focus on designing interventions for improving outcomes for both parent and child in similar situations.

This study compared the experiences of two parents of adolescents with ASD, differing in gender and symptomology, but similar in other respects, including the family demographic characteristics and cultural context.

Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how – from a human resources management (HRM) perspective – organizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees. The authors use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees’ lives to promote well-being at work. In so doing, the authors tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women’s health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, the authors highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. The authors conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, this review represents a call for organizations to now – more than ever – build thriving organizations.

This study aims to examine the levels of stress and resilience in a sample of British Indian parents bringing up a child with autism.

A total of 52 British Indian parents took part in a survey that included measures of stress, resilience, support and child adaptive functioning. Results were compared to a sample of white British (n = 120) and Indian parents (n = 120).

The British Indian parents recorded higher levels of stress and less perceived social support than their white British counterparts. British Indian parents took longer to register concern about their child’s development and sought a diagnosis at a later age than the white British group. The delay in concern and diagnosis was similar to that found in the India group.

The research suggests that British Indian parents are disadvantaged in social support and mental well-being compared to white British parents and may face similar community pressures to parents bringing up a child in India.