Cancelled: 10 Mistakes Employers Make When Hiring People with Autism, and How to Do Better
This presentation is half entertainment and half information. Dylan's plight of trying to maintain employment in many different lines of work will provide many insights to help employers with the tsunami of individuals with autism entering the workforce. It begins with a recounting of his experience at his first job, a Pizzeria. Dylan explains how an oft-repeated adage that we are all familiar with, actually misguided him into behavior that ended up getting him fired.
We will then go deeper, as he recounts another high school job at a restaurant where Dylan tried for the first time being upfront about his disability. He'll tell audiences about how he fell victim to a very common corporate policy that is not designed for autistic people in mind, and explain the importance of this policy being changed for people with disabilities.
Next, Dylan will tell a truly unbelievable story of being hired as a camp counselor, at a camp for people with disabilities. This camp hired him after seeing a presentation in which he talks about the many jobs terminated from, so he had every reason to believe this experience would be different, and finally a job he could keep. Ironically, he ended up getting fired for his disability and will explain how contrary to what most might think, it is entirely possible to be fired for one's disability, particularly when it is invisible.
Also detailed will be the advantages and pitfalls of disclosing one's disability not only to employers, but also to co-workers.
Lastly, Dylan will give practical solutions for HR professionals and employers on how to help employees with autism succeed and avoid the many failures he endured.
Learning Objectives:
- Help people with autism survive and thrive in the workplace.
- Prevent bullying of people with autism, avoiding unnecessary lawsuits and improving retention. Step inside the mind of someone with autism, creating a much deeper ability to be empathetic.
- Find the courage to advocate for necessary changes in policy.
In-person session offerings are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Dylan Volk
After years of what his parents called “the diagnosis of the month club,” Dylan was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism at the age of eight. Life has been a minefield of obstacles for Dylan. When he was little, he struggled with learning the rules and following directions that did not make sense to him. As he got older, he was challenged, especially socially, by a world that seemed extremely confusing to him, with a disability that to most was invisible. Even today, Dylan works hard to figure out what he needs to do in order to get through each day as a 27-year-old adult with autism in our fast-paced and often unforgiving society.
Dylan graduated from Sedgefield High School in 2010 and is currently pursuing his goal of making it in the entertainment industry. He has a YouTube channel under his stage name “Real Dielawn” where viewers are treated on a daily basis to a look inside his one-of-a-kind mind. Dylan has also been a regular on SiriusXM’s “Dirty Pop Live” hosted by Lance Bass, heard formerly on OutQ Channel 106 and RadioAndy Channel 102. He has hosted his own radio show, “Ridin with Dielawn” which aired Saturday nights in Portland, Maine on WLOB 100.5-FM and via his podcast.
Dylan has been enjoying his experiences speaking about his life and the book he wrote with his father. His presentations to thousands of people from coast to coast have been overwhelmingly well-received. He hopes his work helping his father write Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad’s Life Raising a Son on the Autism Spectrum and his new book, Bad Choices Make Good Stories: My Life with Autism, will help families as they navigate through the difficulties of living life on the spectrum. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.