Every October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month gives us a reason to look at who’s getting hired and who isn’t. This year, Los Angeles County has something concrete to point to.
The problem, in one number
Up to 85 percent of college graduates with autism are unemployed or underemployed. That’s not a talent shortage, and it’s not a skills gap. It’s a hiring process problem.
What the County did about it
In April, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion from Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly J. Mitchell directing the Chief Executive Office’s Legislative Affairs branch and the Department of Human Resources to build a Neurodiversity Hiring Pilot Program. The idea is straightforward: match candidate skills to open county positions, then give both the new hires and their managers the support to make it work.
The motion defines neurodiversity broadly, covering autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, Twice Exceptional, Fragile X Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, Down Syndrome, speech or language impairment, and hearing loss. It also makes a point of noting that neurocognitive difference doesn’t always mean disability.
Where things stand
The Commission on Disabilities recently got a progress update, and the numbers look like this:
- 25 neurodivergent professionals is the target for training and hiring
- 10 positions have been identified so far, mostly in accounting and IT
- $300,000 is the estimated startup cost, though no funding has been allocated yet
That last line matters. With the county under budget pressure, DHR Chief Hiring Strategist Johan Julin said finding outside funding sources will be critical. The board asked for a scalable framework, so the pilot is meant to grow rather than sit as a one-off.
It’s not just about getting people in the door
The plan wraps hiring in a lot of scaffolding. Supervisors get training on communication and working styles. Workplace accommodations are handled through DHR. And there’s a peer ambassador program made up of county employees who’ve self-disclosed neurodiverse conditions and volunteered to mentor.
That peer piece answers a real problem. Jessica Lee, co-founder and executive director of NeuroTalent Works, the nonprofit partnering with the county, cited a stat worth sitting with: 59 percent of neurodivergent employees worry that disclosing will hurt their careers, and most stay quiet because of the stigma.
Several departments have also committed to hiring through the county’s Career Development Intern program, which already serves at-risk youth, foster youth, people with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness.
The interview is the barrier
Commission President Carlos Benavides put his finger on why this program exists at all. A candidate can be fully qualified and still get screened out for struggling with eye contact or self-expression in an interview, things a hiring manager reads as red flags but that often come down to sensory processing.
Vice President Ramon Ray Pizarro kept it simple: no disability should be left behind, and even helping a small share of the community is worth advancing.
A long time coming
Commissioner Cathy Gott joined the Commission in 2017 with a neurodiversity hiring effort already in motion. Then came COVID and hiring freezes, and it stalled out. April’s vote restarted it.
Her read on where things are now: nearly all systems are in place, hiring managers are ready for specialized training, and NeuroTalent Works has brought over a training and coaching model it’s already run with large companies nationally.
Both Gott and DHR’s Monica Paraja Dominguez said the same thing in different words, which is that they hope LA County becomes the template other cities and counties copy.
