Between Ideal and Reality: Professional Activation Facilities and the Employment of People on the Autism Spectrum

Profit maximization is a process that companies go through to determine the best production levels and prices to achieve their goals. It would seem that the market’s ‘no limit’ applies, yet there are in fact impassable limits, set by law. Labour law and related human rights are undoubtedly well established among these limits. The balance in this area oscillates around an equilibrium, but time and again, niches of disproportionality are revealed on both sides. For example, although the right to work is effectively guaranteed by international law and domestic Polish law, only 2% of people on the autism spectrum are in work. This is all the more alarming because, due to the noticeable increase in the number of people diagnosed with autism in Poland and around the world, it is increasingly becoming a topic of public debate. A systemic way to include such people in the labour market is primarily through vocational development centres (ZAZs). This article presents the legal framework in question, in juxtaposition with the results of an empirical study conducted in 2022. Out of a total of 127 ZAZs operating in Poland, only four employ more than one person on the autism spectrum. The increase in the number of autistic people, along with the stagnation of the labour market supply aimed at them, prompts demands for remedial measures, such as incentive-based offers of financial support for ZAZs linked to employment quotas for autistic people.