and she came across an article about autism in adults in 2013. and she started thinking, that does very much look like my husband. lars, i m going to do something i never, never usually do. isabelle, your wife, she s next to you, isn t she? yeah. can i have a quick word with her? well, yes, by all means. yeah, come on in, isabelle. hi, isabelle. hello. hello, isabelle. lovely to have you and to see you. thank you. let me just ask you this. so you were doing this internet search and then you sort of put the pieces together. but isabelle, did you have any thoughts prior to finding that online site, that maybe there was something different about lars? i had always known that there was something different about lars, but i couldn t quite put my finger on it. when we first started dating, i used to think that my
boyfriend was quirky. but, you know, ithought, well, there are lots of people that are quirky out there and maybe myself quirky. but as the years went by, i started to really realise that there was something different. and so when i came across that article, i was actually shocked to see that most of what they were talking about fitted with the behaviour that lars had been showing throughout the years. and just briefly, when you saw that article and you started reading, i guess, you know, diagnoses of autism, did did the light of autism, did the light bulb sort of come on? oh, yes, absolutely. yes. it was like reading about lars. and at the end of that article, they took you to a link and it said, do this test. it s not an indication that you have autism, but it s an indication that you might have and you might want to talk to your gp about it for a referral.
and then i called lars and i did the test on him and it showed that he might be on the autistic spectrum and that s when we started the process rolling. isabel, i m going to ask you to put lars back in front of the camera. a real pleasure. thank you for your time. thank you very much. thank you. there you go. welcome back, lars. so, lars, once you got the diagnosis, i want to ask you, how did you feel when you realised it? it was a bit of a mixed feeling. i mean, first of all, and the biggest of all was that i was relieved because now i had answers to my feelings of alienation and why so much had gone wrong in my life despite my utmost effort. when you know the cause, then you can start thinking, what can we do about this? now i had something to work on, so i started studying and researching about autism. lars, did you have problems at work before your diagnosis?
that is all too true. but there are also very many kind people that are able and willing, sometimes even quite eager to help, and perhaps be yourself. it s very, very difficult. difficult to ask of autistic people, since it s very difficult to know yourself. but, at least don t try to be someone who you are not which is called masking, which is very common among autistic people. the simplest advice is just do your best. that s all anyone can ask of you, as long as you do your best. wonderful advice, lars. lars backstrom, i can t tell you how much we appreciate you sharing your story, and isabel, sharing your story with us. look, good luck with everything. and i really appreciate your time. 0k.
of commerce, about their skills gap findings. plus, i speak to these two. there they are, lars backstrom, an autistic data analyst, and kurt schaeffer, who runs the biggest company in the world with a majority of autistic staff, more than 400 in his company alone. also on the show, the big boss of one of the world s largestjobs companies, recruit holdings, which operates in 60 countries, joins me to talk about how to fill the skills gap and how to spot lies on people s job applications. wherever you rejoining me from around the world,