It’s a small world after all

Now days it is very common to stay connected with people no matter where they are; three days ago my younger sister took a plane to Oviedo, Spain, for a semester of study abroad. Yesterday, I was able to briefly chat with her on Messenger via my iPhone, this was all possible thanks to a software application in my iPhone that allows me to uses Messenger.

What I find amusing is that we use software on an everyday basis, but we probably don’t realize the effort software companies make in order to make sure their product is consumer ready. A part of that effort is made by software testers; whose main job is to make sure that the software is doing what it was programmed to do. In order to be a good software tester the person needs to have a high attention to detail, an ability to memorize information, and a single-minded focus that allows them to work on something repetitively until perfected.


Spotting Opportunity in the midst of Adversity

Interestingly enough, some of those skills needed to be a good software programmer are the same qualities found in a person with autism! According to the bureau of labor statistics fewer than 20% of people affected by “disabilities” are employed. This figure might be on the rise thanks to Aspiritech, a Chicago based company that is training people with autism to be software testers.

The concept of employing people with autism as software testers comes from Specialisterne, a Danish company founded in 2004 by Thorkil Sonne. Sonne’s youngest son was diagnosed with autism; although the news where devastating to Sonne at first, he was eventually able to see his son’s autism as an advantage rather than as an obstacle.


Rinse and repeat

Once again we have a clear example of someone who took what seemed to be an “obstacle” and easily turned it to his advantage! There is no doubt in my mind that this can be applied to every situation in life, all you have to do is be willing to look at things from a different perspective. Imagine if all of us worked at turning what we perceived as obstacles into opportunities?

Examples of this are happening all around us! All we have to do is keep our eyes open, and draw inspiration from them!

MSNBC article on Aspiritech

Wired Magazine article on Thorkil Sonne and Specialisterne