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> I want to adapt and accommodate his disability to the best that I can.

1. Recognize that you have a problem, not him.

2. Let him decide if it's a disability and consider that we're all different.

3. You're not being specific; it's hard to provide concrete advise to a non-specific request.

> HR knows it but everyone is afraid of getting sued or something so it's a don't ask don't tell situation.

You're treating him like a sick person who is doing something wrong, whose bad behavior is protected by taboo.

Whether this is true or not is hard to say. But maintaining this perspective, it seems that you're betting on him not being there, rather than resolving any problems you have with him.

> I will be honest, he drives me crazy on a daily basis.

I have autism and I have a manager who drives me crazy on a daily basis.

Try to not make it personal.

> I can make it a useful learning experience that works for both sides, hopefully.

If you try to learn something from dealing with him, great.

I'd try to avoid setting learning goals for other grown-ups who didn't ask for it, though.

> Do you have any advice for making his and my life easier?

Talk with colleagues who have success communicating with him how they do it.

Talk with your manager on how to be a better manager for autistic people.

Stop blaming him for being autistic and turning your problems into his problems. :-)

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These people tell me HR knows it but everyone is afraid of getting sued or something so it's a don't ask don't tell situation. People simply ignored him. This doesn’t require soft skills to logic out that there is reasonable trouble. Coworkers, with a preexisting work history with this employee, know that HR is afraid of getting sued. Why would an HR department be afraid of being sued by an employee? The most likely explanation is that they want to fire them for performance and are trying to limit the likelihood of a lawsuit. Why would a coworker be able to speak to HR’s internal assessment of an employee’s ability to be fired? The most likely explanation is that they’ve gone to HR, or a manager, with problems, and the manager has asked HR if they could fire the employee for cause before. “People simply ignored him” is more ambiguous, but in the context above, I take it to mean - other coworkers want him fired, but given HR’s inaction, they are taking their own action by ignoring the coworker and working around them rather than trying to include them.