As the population of young people on the autism spectrum becomes more prevalent, your greatest wish for your child (and the children of others) may well be for each child to be a gainfully employed, taxpaying citizen — not a citizen who taxes an overburdened service system. A gradual shift is occurring as this emerging population enters the job market, a shift that aspires to make the most of the innate gifts and talents of people with Asperger's, which often includes advanced technical aptitude, ability to stay focused, and attention to detail.

As is true in many instances of progress in supporting people with unique ways of being, the shift has been spearheaded by ingenious parents who have identified necessities of need for their children.

Thorkil Sonne is a father from Denmark who founded Specialisterne, a consulting firm which employs people on the autism spectrum adept at software testing and data entry. Sonne's model is that of aligning people's talents and passions with the interests of a business. It is a hopeful employment model that Sonne envisions with worldwide potential.

In Chicago, another parent, Brenda Weitzberg, was inspired by Sonne and founded Aspiritech, a software-testing business that utilizes the computer skills of its employees on the autism spectrum. Weitzberg was frustrated by the lack of employment options for her thirty-year-old son and began Aspiritech on $25,000 worth of private donations. As of early 2010, the company had signed its first significant work contract.

As the need for viable employment alternatives grows commensurate with the population of young people with Asperger's in need of jobs, parents such as Sonne and Weitzberg will likely be the ones to promote innovative business models that match skills with needs. In what ways might you identify similar opportunities in your area? How might you partner with other parents with the vision of building upon your child's strengths, gifts, passions, and talents? How might you engage local businesses with the idea of highlighting these attractive traits in a prospective employee as “marketable”? And might you be inspired enough to create employment opportunities where there had previously been none, such as Sonne and Weitzberg have? The time to explore these questions is imminent.