#autismworkforce
Last month, I attended the Autism Show in London, which takes place over a few weekends in June in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
More of the focus was certainly on young autistic people and the provisions required and needed during their childhood and adolescence. However, there were a few organisations in attendance working towards the employment prospects of autistic people.
Introducing Care Trade. I met Karen Edwards (CEO) and the Care Trade team who told me about their #autismworkforce campaign and this video:
The video features George, Elliott and Louise who are all autistic and currently in employment as a result of the Care Trade programme.
Care Trade’s support is focussed on young people with autism specifically in London.
Here are a few highlights and points I took from the video:’
Employing somebody who is autistic is not only going to benefit that individual or those closest to them. It has much wider benefits. Karen Edwards said, “They are happy to be in work and that happiness has a positive affect on other employees”.
I attended an event last week on people management that spoke about the need for culture-growth, not culture-fit. Companies and their people can benefit hugely if it hires those who are not all the same.
YET, we heard from a member of staff who said, “I don’t think there is enough awareness within companies for disabled people to be able to do the work. If they can do it, why not give them the chance?”.
Why not, exactly?
There is clearly a wide range of factors to explain why so few autistic people have been given opportunities in work, or have been able to create a sustainable job from them. Demelza from Care Trade, who looks after Employment Opporunities, insisted that the adjustments needed for prospective autistic employees are often very simple.
So is it just a case that employers are unaware? That they are intimidated by how complex autism could be in their workplace?
“The thing with the secret workforce is that it shouldn’t be secret” said one employee, yet just 16% of adults with autism are in full-time employment. The truth is most of us do not know what it’s like to be in a neurodiverse workplace.
I’ll leave the closing thoughts to Louise and Elliot:
“People with autism are kind, hardworking and industrious members of society. All we need is for somebody to open the door and welcome us in. ” — Elliott
“I think you’d be missing out if you didn’t hire one of us” — Louise
After watching the video, they make a very compelling case.
To find out more about Care Trade and their opportunities please visit: http://www.care-trade.org/
