Companies are discovering the untapped brain power of a group long thought ill suited to the office: adults on the autistic spectrum. Joshua Kendall, author of America’s Obsessives, reports at The Daily Beast on one Danish man’s mission to employ the seemingly unemployable — and successful famous “obsessives”* (think Jefferson and Heinz) in American history.

While the 1% of the population with ASDs may have considerable difficulty navigating social interactions, they often possess superior intellectual aptitude for the so-called STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Their ability to focus and to pay attention to detail can be otherworldly. […]

*A loaded word reflecting the author’s bias — Editor

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