An investigation into the corporate diagnosis, understanding and employment of 'High Functioning Autism' in Tech Companies.

微软（Microsoft）、苹果（Apple）、b谷歌和Facebook等科技公司的研发团队越来越多地聘用被诊断患有某种形式自闭症的人。本文将探讨其原因，科技公司如何促进和“诊断”自闭症，他们通过这个标签理解什么，他们认识和重视自闭症的特殊技能和优势，他们如何促进和增强自闭症的这些特殊特征，以及“自闭症结构”如何进入新技术产品的生产，以及如果有的话，这种结构对用户有什么影响。在我的硕士论文研究过程中，微软的一位高级技术开发总监向我描述说：“你的手机、个人电脑等上的操作系统都是自闭的。”如果你在这些系统之外操作，这些天你就处于边缘。操作系统反映了自闭症患者的思维，而用户反映了操作系统。”本论文的研究问题最终将涉及是否一种形式的“人工自闭症”被强加给用户，这导致的影响，以及它如何调解这些操作系统用户之间的关系。

Tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook are increasingly employing people diagnosed with some form of autism in their research and development teams. This thesis will investigate the reasons for this, how tech corporations facilitate and 'diagnose' autism, what they understand by this label, what they recognize and value as the special skills and advantages of the condition, how they facilitate and enhance these special features of autism, and how an 'autistic structure' feeds into the production of new tech products and what effects, if any, this structure has on users. In the course of the research for my MA Dissertation a senior tech development director at Microsoft described to me that 'the operating systems that are on your phone, PC etc. are all autistic. If you operate outside of these systems, these days you are on the fringe. The OS mirrors the autistic mind and the user mirrors the OS.' The research questions informing this thesis will ultimately concern the question of whether a form of 'artificial autism' is being imposed on users, the effects this causes, and how it mediates the relations between the users of these operating systems.