“If you make the door wide enough more people will be able to get in, and some of those people will be autistic or neurodiverse in other ways.”

What South Swindon MP Sir Robert Buckland calls “inclusion by design” would help to see more people with autism in work, not only to their benefit, but also to their employers’ and the wider society.

Mr Buckland led a government-commissioned review into how people with autism get on in finding work, and what can be done to make this easier for them.

And the findings were disappointing, if not surprising.

The review says: “At the moment only three in 10 autistic people of working age are in employment.

“This means that seven in 10 of them are unable to access the independence and fulfilment that employment can bring. It also means that employers, and the wider economy, are missing out on the skills and energy that autistic people could be contributing, to the detriment of us all.”

It adds: “Autistic people face the largest pay gap of all disability groups, receiving a third less than non-disabled people on average.

“Autistic graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed after 15 months as non-disabled graduates, with only 36 per cent finding full-time work in this period.

“Autistic graduates are most likely to be overqualified for the job they have, most likely to be on zero-hours contracts, and least likely to be in a permanent role.”

Mr Buckland said: Some employers, many government departments recognise that people with autism have skills that they really need.

“But what’s really needed is what’s called “inclusion by design”. If companies make their processes friendlier then they don’t especially have to try attracting autistic people, they’ll just find naturally more of them will find employment.

“For example – interviews shouldn’t be an endurance test, they shouldn’t be a memory test. You can let people know the questions you’ll be asking beforehand. If it’s a practical job you can go down to the workshop and people can show you their skills.

“It’s not necessary for companies to be saying ‘autistic people: come this way’, just  make the way you do things friendlier for autistic people and  it’ll happen naturally.”

Mr Buckland added: “James Cusack the chief Executive of Autistica, who worked with me on the review, said we are having the same conversations now about autism as we were 20 years ago about mental health.

“We need a similar revolution in our thinking now for autism.”

The Buckland Review is available on the government’s website Gov.uk.