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Autistic strengths should be utilised to best effect

spadger

Hi,

I am the father of three kids with varying degrees of autism. My eldest is 22, has Aspergers and on a positive note has recently started his first job but it is early days as yet.

The next is 18 (also has Aspergers) and we are finding it difficult to know how to help him towards a suitable, enjoyable long term career path. The youngest is 11 (High functioning autism) and although he is doing well within the specialist education environment, I am concerned about his future prospects.

Their seems to be little real government policy regarding supporting and assisting the huge volume of unemployed ASD people into sustainable employment despite most of them wanting to be in employment. 

In addition, given the strengths ASD individuals can offer to employers given the appropriate support and training, it seems to me that society is missing out on a massive valuable untapped resource.

I have recently started to investigate in more detail what opportunities are available and this led me to discover Specialisterne (Specialists), a Danish organisation that have developed a model for assisting ASD people into sustainable, professional, enjoyable work (usually testing software and data entry). http://specialistpeople.com/

In recent years they have developed a franchise style partnership model and as such have expanded into a number of countries the nearest being Scotland. http://www.specialisternescotland.org/

Does anyone know of any similar projects running or due to start in England, particularly the North West?

Parents

  • Definately agree that interests and skills can be adapted and utilised for many different types of employment.

    Like the idea of pooling skills. I guess it is feasible to create an ASD dream team on this basis!

    I think the challenge is to convince society that many unemployed ASD people have a lot to offer and this takes time. Once employers realise that ASD employees can potentially make their business more profitable then things will progress.

    Before that happens though employers themselves need to be educated to understand how to utilise these skills and create an ASD compatible environment.

    Even before that educators and/ or facilitators must provide a framework that allows this to happen. Specialisterne (first post) has developed such a framework and I am investigating alternatives.

    Any views on these points much appreciated.

Reply

  • Definately agree that interests and skills can be adapted and utilised for many different types of employment.

    Like the idea of pooling skills. I guess it is feasible to create an ASD dream team on this basis!

    I think the challenge is to convince society that many unemployed ASD people have a lot to offer and this takes time. Once employers realise that ASD employees can potentially make their business more profitable then things will progress.

    Before that happens though employers themselves need to be educated to understand how to utilise these skills and create an ASD compatible environment.

    Even before that educators and/ or facilitators must provide a framework that allows this to happen. Specialisterne (first post) has developed such a framework and I am investigating alternatives.

    Any views on these points much appreciated.

Children
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