Narratives of ideal and second-option jobs among young adults with high functioning autism

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Nouf-Latif, F., Rosqvist, H. B., & Markström, U. (2018). Narratives of ideal and second-option jobs among young adults with high functioning autism. Nordic Social Work Research, 9(2), 104-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/2156857x.2018.1484385

Publication date: 4 Jul 2018 Added to AutiHub: 4 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Faten Nouf-Latif
  2. Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist *
  3. Urban Markström

Abstract

The meaning of work is different for people in different social groups, and research exploring perceptions of meaningful work among adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) is scarce. The aim of this paper is to explore how narratives of satisfactory and meaningful future jobs are portrayed relative to two alternative discourses of work – the ‘obligation to work’ discourse, and the ‘disability rights’ discourse. This group of individuals are high functioning on the one hand, while at the same time holding legally-mandated special disability rights, an exploration of how this group reason about work-life and satisfactory jobs is particularly interesting. Through ethnographic fieldwork in Sweden, seven young adults with HFA were followed, and 17 interviews were conducted. The main findings and conclusions are that jobs that are individually assessed to be ‘ideal’, are put aside in favor of jobs that are more compatible with general labor market demands, as long as enjoyment and meaningfulness can still be experienced.

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Cited references
58
With a DOI
45
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
10
4 / 58 (6.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 58 (8.6%)
References with detected author names
56 / 58 (96.6%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
10
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
106
From DOI or external metadata
106
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
12 / 106 (11.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 94 / 106 (88.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
4 / 106 (3.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 4 / 12 (33.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 104 (2.9%).
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