Overview: Areva Martin Challenges Tech CEOs on Neurodivergent Talent
In this OpEd, Areva Martin challenges corporate leaders to rethink how they recruit, train, and retain neurodivergent talent. Martin highlights the success of the LA Inclusive initiative during major sports activations, addresses the intersectional employment barriers facing Black autistic adults, and issues a direct challenge to tech executives to build an equitable workforce.
For nearly two decades, I have fought to change the way our society sees neurodivergent people. As a civil rights attorney, founder of Special Needs Network, business owner and mother of a son on the autism spectrum, I have spent my career challenging assumptions about what neurodivergent people cannot do. Too often, the conversation begins with deficits and ends with accommodations. I have always believed we should begin somewhere else: with talent, potential and opportunity.
The LA Inclusive Model
This summer, I watched that belief come to life. While millions focused on the FIFA World Cup, another story unfolded across Los Angeles. Through our LA Inclusive partnership with LA Metro, neurodivergent young adults staffed World Cup fan activations throughout the city, welcoming visitors, preparing meals and serving customers through our Special Flavors food truck and Sip & Scoop mobile cafe.
These were not training exercises or sheltered programs. They were real jobs serving real customers during one of the world’s largest sporting events. I watched young adults remain calm under pressure, adapt when challenges arose and take genuine pride in representing their city. They weren’t asking for an opportunity to prove themselves; they were proving themselves.
Common Ground on Unlikely Tech Alliances
Unfortunately, what I witnessed in Los Angeles is the exception. It made me think of comments Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, made earlier this year. Karp, who has spoken publicly about being neurodivergent, said neurodivergent people will disproportionately shape America’s future.
I don’t agree with Karp on many issues. As a civil rights lawyer, I have serious concerns about Palantir’s work and questions involving privacy and surveillance. But disagreement should never prevent us from recognizing a good idea, and on this point, I believe he’s right. Neurodivergent minds represent one of America’s greatest untapped competitive advantages. The problem is that recognition hasn’t yet translated into opportunity.
Addressing the Crisis of Black Autistic Unemployment
Depending on the study, unemployment among autistic adults ranges from roughly 40% to as high as 85%. Black autistic adults often face even greater barriers to employment while receiving far less attention from researchers and policymakers. Employers across the country say they can’t find enough dependable, skilled workers, yet hundreds of thousands of neurodivergent adults remain excluded from meaningful careers, not because they lack talent, but because too few employers are willing to rethink how they recruit, train and support employees.
What I witnessed during the World Cup wasn’t charity or a public relations exercise. It was professionalism, accountability, teamwork and exceptional customer service, a group of young adults rising to high expectations because someone finally allowed them to meet them.
That is the vision behind LA Inclusive, our workforce initiative connecting neurodivergent adults with careers in technology, hospitality and other industries shaping Southern California’s future. The FIFA World Cup gave us an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate what’s possible, and the 2027 Super Bowl and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games give us the chance to prove this model at an even greater scale.
A Direct Challenge to Silicon Valley and Tech CEOs
So let me end with an invitation. Alex Karp, we may continue to disagree on important issues involving civil rights, privacy and the role of powerful technology companies in our society. But that doesn’t prevent us from recognizing that we share a belief in the extraordinary potential of neurodivergent people. I invite you to visit Los Angeles, meet the young adults working through LA Inclusive, and spend time with the families who have fought not for sympathy, but for opportunity.
And my invitation extends well beyond Palantir. To every technology company investing billions to shape the future of work: invest in the people who will help build it. The young adults I watched this summer don’t need to fight to be seen anymore. They’ve already won that fight. What they need now are employers with the vision to recognize what I saw, and the commitment to act on it.
This op-ed appeared first in Black Press USA. It has been edited for length. For the original, visit www.blackpressusa.com/op-ed-the-ai-industry-is-overlooking-its-greatest-untapped-workforce/.
Areva Martin is a civil rights attorney, founder and president of Special Needs Network Inc., a regular legal and political commentator, and author of “The Everyday Advocate.” She is the mother of a son on the autism spectrum.
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