Demand for skilled labour is at an all-time high, a daunting reality for the trades especially, as they represent nearly 20 million jobs in the United States, or nearly 10 percent of total employment. These are high paying, critical professions that build the homes, infrastructure, and equipment that keep our lives moving, and they remain chronically underfilled.
In the United States, it is reported that an estimated 2.1 million skilled trades openings across 135 core professions are posted each year, but a talent gap of 1.3 million persists, meaning that for every single person completing a relevant training program, three new openings are posted.
Driven by retirement and attrition, and decades of discourse that promoted a degree over hands-on work and the removal of hands-on learning from classrooms, the renewed push to promote careers in the trades is reactionary at best and will take years to produce the necessary results. According to research by JLL, by 2030, 2.1 million skilled trades positions could remain chronically unfilled, the economic losses from which could reach $1 trillion annually, which means action needs to be taken, and taken swiftly, if a turnaround is possible.
And, if you ask Dr. Temple Grandin what needs to change, it has everything to do with updating education, attitudes, and approaches to embrace different ways of thinking.
Thinking differently
Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to think about it from a different perspective, which is exactly how Dr. Temple Grandin approaches her work and the world.
Many people are unaware that there are three distinct cognitive styles of processing information (visual, verbal, and pattern) and while most people use a combination of these to interact with the world, as all three are important to the function of our market and society, some individuals experience one or another in a more dominant sense.
Visual thinkers or object visualizers like Dr. Grandin have an innate capacity to solve problems. Using images or diagrams to organize, comprehend, and communicate thoughts and ideas, they often notice fine details that others might miss. Visual thinkers make great diagnosticians, artists, mechanical designers, architects, and similar, excelling in roles that require spatial recall, though they may struggle with abstract concepts like higher mathematics or long-form essay writing, skills that are heavily weighted in academics.
Despite the odds being against her as a person on the spectrum in the 1950s, Dr. Grandin did not let her diagnosis stand in the way of becoming a world-renowned scientist, animal behaviorist, autism advocate, and award-winning author. At a time when children with disabilities were institutionalized, Temple was engaged and empowered to find her place in the world.
Non-verbal until the age of three and a half, she has been a professor of animal science at Colorado State University since 1990, served as an industry consultant, and tours the world addressing auditoriums of people who pay to hear her insights; remarkably, through this work she has revolutionized animal handling practices to create a more humane world for animals and people alike.
This was not without struggle. Dr. Grandin has noted that she faced more barriers in industry as a woman than she did as someone on the spectrum, but believes she would not have the same success in today’s standardized educational system.
“I don’t think I could pass an algebra test today but I know how to do all my practical math like find the volume of a tank, figure out the square footage of the cattle pens, and things of those sorts, and I think education has really gotten off-kilter with some of this stuff,” says the woman who couldn’t become a veterinarian because of higher math requirements but educates future veterinarians today.
Barred access
For visual thinkers like Dr. Grandin, the very systems that are meant to educate can also be the source of barriers to access to career paths that would suit their capabilities and interests. Hiring practices, too, can bar access for many.
While Dr. Grandin was able to build a portfolio of drawings to sell herself and her skills in the market, online applications and AI screening tools paired with more stringent educational and job requirements make it much more difficult to break through into a career, especially if you are neurodivergent.
“I’m very concerned that our visual thinkers—the ones that I call the clever engineers, really good with mechanical—we’re screening them out and we’re screening out all the best diagnostic people,” she says of the higher math requirements.
Dr. Grandin notes that there are two parts to engineering: the mathematical engineers and what she refers to as “the clever engineers who tend to be the mechanical geniuses that just figure out how to make something or make something work,” she explains. “I can remember when I worked out in industry, the ‘weird’ guy in the shop who could fix anything, definitely was autistic, but we don’t have that guy anymore, and we need them. We need the weird guy in the shop.” Traditional educational and career pathways, however, have changed, as have attitudes and liabilities, which limits how far some people can go.
True diversity, equity, and inclusion
As employers and education systems have worked to integrate policies around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), in many ways they have failed to address the systemic barriers that prevent full and equal participation in learning environments and the workforce, particularly for those on the spectrum. In Dr. Grandin’s opinion, changes need to be instituted earlier to ensure that children, both neurodiverse and neurotypical, are exposed to more at a younger age, which begins in the home. Children are taught to build with blocks but seldom graduate to hand tools, which leads to a concerning loss of skills. Dr. Grandin has encountered some students who have never even used a ruler.
“We need to get these hands-on things back into the schools and we need to do it at younger ages. I realize we can’t take an eight-year-old on a construction site, but there are places where they can watch safely,” she explains, from which they can still be engaged and inspired.
Dr. Grandin was given responsibility at an early age and encourages parents to do the same with their children, be it a dog walking job or selling candy for charity. She encourages kids to get off the computer and get outside doing something with their hands where they can build social skills as well. And, acknowledging that access to formal therapies can be limited or costly, Dr. Grandin suggests parents do something similar and call it by a different name: riding clubs as equine therapy, intergenerational experiences at seniors’ residences, church groups—they all have a role to play.
“I think a lot of parents get too much into the Autism box. I think that’s a very big problem,” explains Dr. Grandin, which can limit the possibilities for children. Moving past this requires a great deal of advocacy and understanding the rights of the child to help them find a place to fit in the economy based on their unique interests and abilities.
Advocating for change
For Melanie McIntyre McGregor, RN, BScN, a registered nurse, mother, and advocate who completed Orton-Gillingham classroom training to support her child with dyslexia when the educational system could not, “Access often depends on parents who know how to navigate the system,” noting that this in itself creates inequity.
The role of educators is to meet children where they are, but with limited funding and strained resources, many children with special needs tend to slip through the cracks.
“One of the most difficult realizations has been seeing how much time, money, and energy families spend fighting for services that research has already shown are effective,” McGregor shares. “Parents shouldn’t have to become investigators, educators, legal researchers, advocates, and fundraisers simply to ensure their child learns to read or receives an appropriate education,” she says.
“Foundational literacy, writing, communication, and numeracy will always matter. Those are essential life skills. But beyond those foundations, I believe education should spend far more time helping students discover who they are, how they learn best, what they’re passionate about, and how those strengths can contribute to their communities.”
Says McGregor, “Imagine if schools invested as much energy into identifying children’s strengths as they do identifying their weaknesses. Imagine if every child left school believing they had something valuable to contribute,” beyond test scores that emphasize memorization over critical thinking skills.
And, if a child isn’t learning, try teaching in a different way. For McGregor, accommodations are important, but “they should never replace effective instruction.”
Similarly, if a child is accustomed to receiving accommodations throughout their educational journey, it is reasonable to expect those accommodations to continue through their professional careers, though much of the support available ceases to exist once an individual turns 18.
When it comes to accommodations, employers who hire individuals on the spectrum must be aware of their limitations, but also their strengths. Dr. Grandin notes that they will likely pour themselves into their jobs for the right employer and the right environment and will become superior performers, but a few things need to happen first. They must be insulated from social situations that may lead to breakdown and be guided by what Dr. Grandin refers to as on-the-job “pilot’s checklists” that break down the various tasks chronologically using simple to understand language and steps which are repeatable, referenceable, and can set individuals up for career success (rather than simply being given oral instructions).
Bridging the gap in skills and society
Certainly, there are individuals on the profound end of the spectrum who are not able to fulfill the requirements of jobs, particularly the skilled trades, but there are many more who are being screened out because of test results or the inability to learn in a standardized environment, though they have the skills and capacities so sorely needed in the market.
By systematically barring entry to these positions, many of the best and brightest minds are being eliminated from roles where they can shine. The loss of economic benefit therein cannot be ignored either, as many of these roles come with high wages and a sense of pride in workmanship, enabling these individuals to add tremendous value to the economy and to their own lives.
Espousing equality and operating with equity are two different things, and at the end of the day we need to do better to engage the entirety of the workforce. This can only be done if we start at an earlier age, reintroducing hands-on learning in the classroom and rethinking how we view those on the spectrum, especially at a time when addressing the skilled labour gap is so critical.
This article was inspired by An Evening With Temple Grandin hosted by the Algoma Autism Foundation (AAF) in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. A big thank you goes out to AAF and like organizations, including Future Horizons, for their work to reshape discourse around, and improve outcomes for, those who are on the spectrum, their families, and their carers. Different, not less.
