Career progression for autistic people: A scoping review.

No included study directly focused on career progression, so relevant data were identified by reviewers from broader employment studies. The search may have missed studies because career progression data were often embedded in results sections rather than being the main focus. Only data that authors reported as coming directly from participants were included, so relevant quotes may have been omitted by the original authors. Many included studies had inadequate reporting or non-representative samples, with limited gender, ethnic, age or intellectual-disability diversity. Several studies examined autistic young people entering work for the first time, so findings may not apply to autistic people later in a career. Only 10 studies (30.1%) reported involving autistic people in design, conduct, analysis or interpretation, and involvement was mostly consultative. Most evidence was qualitative or mixed-methods, and intervention studies were small, heterogeneous and some differences disappeared when analyses changed.

Funding: The present study was funded by an Autistica research grant to AR. No other conflicts of interest are reported in the supplied text.

Do not read the reported employment support, mentoring, job matching and workplace adjustments as proven ways to make careers progress. The review synthesised mostly qualitative and mixed-methods studies, no study directly focused on career progression, and some intervention differences were not maintained when unemployed participants were removed.