The other day I told my friend Wendy about the success of my daughter who is training to become a Health Care Assistant. In Canada, this is someone who performs a role in hospitals and senior centres. They can work with those in palliative care, or those living with a variety of disabilities. Their presence is part of the care that individuals receive.

The kinds of responsibilities they have can include supporting people with aspects of their care, engaging with them socially — reading a book playing a board game or going with them into the community. They may help with housekeeping — make beds, do laundry, clean bathrooms. Their role may support patients with mobility issues. Often they are members of a team that ensures people can stay in their homes longer or have good care in a facility when it is needed.

Health Care Assistants are supervised by nurses or other healthcare professionals. There are limits to their role but the work is integral.

Wendy told me that she was worried about her future if people like my daughter would be among the folks who would be caring for her in any of these capacities. I was offended. And I told her I disagreed.

If I could choose someone to be a caregiver for myself or anyone whom I love, my daughter exemplifies the qualities I would be looking for. She is compassionate and hard-working. She puts her own needs behind others frequently in her regular life and of course, does the same in her work.

Wendy told me that she was worried about her future if people like my daughter would be among the folks who would be caring for her in any of these capacities

She currently performs this job at a senior's facility where many of the clients have limited ability to engage with the broader world. Some have dementia. My friend's Milly's father is one of them. Milly told me a story about her dad soiling himself and finger painting with the feces on the wall and the sheets. My daughter came to clean it up and had nothing but kindness in her manner as she did so.

I asked her later how she felt about her work. She said that elderly people deserve to spend their final years feeling cared for and it was her job to help that happen. She loves feeling valued and believes that what she does is important. It's the first job she ever had where she felt that way.

The reason that Wendy made her comment about not wanting someone like my daughter to care for her was probably because my daughter has a diagnosis of autism.

Autism impacts people in varied ways. It is indeed a spectrum. Meet one person with autism and you've met one person with autism. When my daughter was younger one of the ways this manifested itself for her was difficulty making fluffy social conversations. Once in the car with her, I asked her why she was so quiet and she answered "Remember Mom, I have autism."

I asked her later how she felt about her work. She said that elderly people deserve to spend their final years feeling cared for and it was her job to help that happen.

As an older adult, she has developed those kinds of social skills. Sometimes life is a good teacher. She now has a great ability to converse with people including those casual chats that people have in the grocery store lineup.

Some of what autism has brought to her (although it is impossible to define every aspect or characteristic of her by her diagnosis) is that she is a good rule follower. She's not rigid in her thinking but she does remember important directions and is disciplined in her ways of doing things. Following schedules, and being on time are important to her. A rule is a rule in her mind. But she does also have common sense. This is an uncommon gift.

These are good skills and abilities to have in her work. Being required to follow the guidelines of care for an individual that she is responsible for is a positive. I would be glad to have someone with those strengths caring for me. Combine that with her compassion and empathy and you have what I consider a great employee in her chosen work.

Meet one person with autism and you've met one person with autism.

Hiring neurodiverse individuals with autism is no different than hiring anyone else. People with autism have strengths and weaknesses. An employer can find out if the individual is a good fit based on many of the same criteria and methods they would with anyone else.

Matching humans with jobs that work for them as well as the employer is generally a good idea. It makes for less turnover in staff which most workplaces appreciate.

My daughter does well in her job because of who she is and all that she brings to her work. She's not successful despite her diagnosis. She is perhaps successful partly because of it.

Labels do not define us. We all travel paths with our quirks and individualities, our hopes and fears, passions and shortcomings. Some of those play a bigger part in the ways we interact with the world. But open your mind to the possibilities. For yourself and others.

"If there were no rules specified, for example: only cross the road at a crossing, then I invented my own rules." — Wenn Lawson

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