I’m working on my chapter on employment and housing right now, and I’ve learned that “likeability” is a real Human Resources thing. People interviewing for jobs actually get rated on “likeability”–the extent to which the people interviewing them are attracted to them. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, this is even worse in video conferencing. Apparently, during video interviews, likeability has more impact than a candidate’s persuasive arguments. And of course during the pandemic it’s almost all video interviews.
How can this be anything but discrimination against people with autism who, by definition, struggle with social interaction?