Page 9 - Cyber Warnings

If that accomplishment wasn’t enough, Turing is also considered the father of theoretical
computer science and artificial intelligence — and it’s widely believed that he had autism.

While Turing was not diagnosed during his lifetime, experts such as Kevin Pelphrey, the director
of the Autism and Neurodevel-opmental Disorders Institute at George Washington Institute,
point out that Turing’s “mathematical genius and social inelegance” suggest he may have been
on the autism spectrum.

“[Turing’s] story illustrates how society benefits when it gives a voice to those who think
different. Until he came along, no one perceived the need for a com-puter; they simply needed
to crack the code. It took a different kind of mind to come up with that unexpected, profoundly
consequential solution,” Pelphrey remarked in Wired.

Turing’s autistic brain may have been the key that allowed him to think far differently from his
coworkers — so far outside of the norm that he came up with a computing device no one had
imagined. This is the sort of inventive mindset we need in cybersecurity today, at a time when
cyberattacks are advancing faster than we can invent new methods of prevention.

Neurodiversity Considerations

Slowly, perceptions of people with autism are beginning to change. In the 1990s, sociologist
Judy Singer introduced a new term to describe conditions including autism, dyslexia, and
ADHD: neurodiversity. It was meant to change the discourse around disorders like autism. And
the recent spate of ASD-oriented hiring programs suggest it’s working.

This is not to say all people with autism will be able to (or will even want to) work comfortably in
an office environment. Roughly one-third of people with autism also have an intellectual
disability, and some find even brief social interactions to be too overwhelming and disruptive.
For others, though, minor adjustments from employers — like allowing them to converse via
typing (or text-to-speech software) — can help them feel at ease, and work productively in a
professional role.

Many people with autism have average or above-average intelligence; the fact that their minds
work differently than most can be a strength for companies that want to think differently.
Employers seeking innovation already recognize the benefits of having diverse employees, and
those on the spectrum are no different.

A 2016 study by Australia’s Curtin University of 59 companies found that employees on the
autism spectrum performed at above-average levels in the categories of work ethic, attention to
detail, and overall work quality. On productivity, ASD and non-ASD employees were the same.

The study also found no added cost associated with hiring workers on the spectrum.

“Employees with ASD were also found to have a positive impact on the workplace in terms of
the creative and different skills they brought to the organization and by increasing awareness of
autism amongst employees,” said Dr. Delia Hendrie, the lead researcher on the study.

9 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2017 Edition
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