Arik Marmorstein: Making the job market autism-friendly

Aqsa Syeda

Arik Marmorstein – the name behind Spectroomz. He is a Law graduate by education, an entrepreneur at heart and a father on a mission. Marmorstein discerned his entrepreneurial spirit back in 2011 when he founded ‘Mimoona’, an Israel-based crowdfunding platform and propitiously ran it till 2019. Soon after that, in the beginning of 2020, he was chosen (by life, in his own words) to begin his odyssey on Spectroomz. 

This article addresses a pressing issue prevailing in our society that I believe is being overlooked – unemployment and career challenges faced by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), among those many of them seem to look and behave just fine.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental condition which puts the people in a bubble of various troubles. People with autism have difficulty in social interactions, communication, and exhibit repetitive behaviors. Some people face challenges in maintaining normal conversations which further affects their relationship building. Some face issues in imparting appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses in social situations. They also have difficulty in facial expressions and maintaining eye contact. Due to these predicaments, and in some cases very well-hidden, these people are seen with deficits and restrictions in relationship building and communication consistency.

By the year 2019, 540,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with autism spectrum conditions while 433,000 were aged 18-plus. Compared to their peers, people with ASD tend to face unemployment or underemployment, even for those who are intellectually gifted.

The statistics in the United States, supported by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and NIMH (The National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center), show that 1 in 54 children has been identified with ASD. This is a condition that is found across all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and boys (3.0%) are 4 times more likely to associate with this neurological and developmental challenge than girls (0.7%).

The story of Spectroomz

Arik Marmorstein’s passion for working with autistic adults was born with the ASD diagnosis of his son. As soon as the emotional aspects were processed, he went on a journey to explore the reality his child was going to face. He approached autistic adults to know the major difficulties and upon inquiring, he realized that unemployment, job interviews and walking into traditional workplaces are the major stumbling blocks faced by people with autism. This is when Marmorstein’s entrepreneurial spirit, love of a father and the idea of Spectroomz emerged. He created the solution he wanted to see.

Since that day, he has been working day and night on Spectroomz, building an accessible, functional and helpful platform to help autistic adults find jobs and build workplace capabilities.

Spectroomz is currently reaching heights with approximately 20,000 visitors to the website monthly. There are 1,600 subscribers up till now and is moving towards further success. The seed for Spectroomz was sown in the beginning of 2020 and in the past year, this reality-based innovative solution is catching the traction it well-deserves.

I am a psychologist and a career counselor based in Islamabad. My curiosity was at peak to explore Spectroomz and how it helps autistic adults, caught between the neurodevelopmental maze and real-world nuances. When life gave him lemon, he made lemonade. Arik Marmorstein took this challenge as an opportunity to support not only one child (of his) but all autistics. Now, Spectroomz does not only target appropriate remote jobs for autistics, there are also career capacity building courses, ASD awareness sessions designed for employers, and a support group mechanism forming for parents and people who are interested in the subject. In a nutshell, the stoic father is creating space for all the stakeholders involved in the picture, to learn, understand, accept and succeed.

To go the extra miles for his passion, instead of charging fixed prices for the courses and training, Spectroomz has implemented a “pay what you can” policy. Marmorstein wants to help eliminate hurdles for the audience he serves, including the financial ones.

The name

“Spectroomz is a combination of two words – spectrum and rooms. The spectrum here refers to the autism spectrum while room signifies the thought that despite the lack of appropriate social skills, people with ASD can have a room in the workplace,” said Marmorstein. This beautifully portrays that the imperfect communication skills do not mean low standards of work. There are many jobs that require less social interaction, usually online and home-based, that are well-suited for autistics, who can be intellectually gifted. 

Passion and motivation

Currently, Arik Marmorstein’s passion is “to help autistic adults get employed”. This endeavor is supported by a deep-rooted passion he long has, “to grow stuff”, in his words. He has been an entrepreneur for 10 years.

From the interview, I got the impression that Marmorstein does not follow any ideals but his own sense of mission. He views passion as the purpose of life and right now he states that he has mixed feelings about “driving the universe” to create a better outlook for adults with ASD, he feels extremely satisfied and highly emotional.

Arik Marmorstein’s message to the world

“Embrace diversity. It is good for business too.”

To learn more about Arik’s project and courses, please visit:
https://www.spectroomz.com/
https://www.spectroomz.com/seo-course

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