Tag Archives: employment

Helping autistic young people take control of their own futures

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Published by: Telstra Exchange
Written by: Natalie Falzon

For disadvantaged communities, workplace doors may be frequently found to be more closed than open. The statistics tell us this is likely the case for those on the autism spectrum. Unemployment and underemployment rates for this cohort reveal an uncomfortable truth: there are barriers to autistic young people finding work.

Enter Autism CRC, a partner backed by Telstra Foundation’s Tech4Good Challenge program and driven to empower autistic people to use their strengths and realise their potential. Based on six years of foundational research, they arrived at the conclusion that self-determination is key to improving autistic young people’s employment prospects. So, Autism CRC set out to create a service to encourage and enable this cohort to make informed choices and take definitive action around their own career and education paths.

From the start, myWAY Employability has been designed for and with the autistic community. Initial research indicated that early engagement would be key to establishing a truly relevant service that could factor for a literal spectrum of user requirements. And so, myWAY Employability was developed via a collaboration between Autism CRC and Curtin University that involved more than 300 people (including young people aged 14–30), parents, allied health professionals, disability service providers and educators. A collaborative Human-Centred Design approach, built on learnings and skills imparted by the Tech4Good Challenge’s educational phases, helped the team to explore needs and preferences, identify potential solutions and develop the concept that became myWAY Employability. Click here to read the rest of the story.

Disability Employment Resources

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According to the Department of Labor, in 2019, 19.3 percent of people with disabilities were employed. Across all groups, the employment population ratios were much lower for persons with a disability than those without a disability young adults with autism are more likely to be unemployed and isolated.

The following articles provide information to employers looking to employ individuals with disabilities.

4 ways to hire more people with disabilities– SHRM

12 organizations that supported job seekers with disabilities – Getting Hired

A complete guide to hiring employees with disabilities- Inc.

Benefits of hiring people with disabilities– Career Cast Disability Network

College guide for students with physical disability

Employing people with disabilities

Finding candidates with disabilities– EARN

Hiring people with disabilities – U.S. Department of Labor

Hiring people with disabilities is good for business– Business.com

Hiring someone with a disability: the dos and don’ts- CPL

Best Ways to Prepare Your Child With ASD for the Workplace

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Published By: Autism Parenting Magazine

Luke is one of 500,000 US teens that are anticipated to ride the crest of a wave of people with autism exiting the public school system within the next 10 years, a tsunami that society and employers alike are not ready for. According to the AFAA, or Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism, just over 50 percent of young adults on the autism spectrum worked for pay eight years after they finished high school. Ninety percent of adults with autism are either unemployed, or under-employed, and under 16 percent have full-time jobs.

Luke’s main issue is an inability to express himself verbally. That, coupled with limited social skills, got an “autism” label smacked on him, where he has joined company with 1.5 million other Americans. Click here to read the rest of the story.

April Special Needs Article Links

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Welcome to the April article links. These are articles that I tweeted and or received from viewers during the month of April on special needs and developmental disability topics. Enjoy!

5 practical ways to help adults with autism gain employment (Autism Parenting Magazine)

10 things I wish the entertainment industry understood about autism (The Mighty)

20 tips on employment for students with disabilities (The Inclusion Lab)

Autism and parent fatigue (Autism Awareness Centre, Inc.)

Grandparents may be first to spot autism in a child (NHS)

How animals can help autistic children  (The Conversation)

Making art galleries autism friendly (A.N)

Moms work to empower children and adults with autism (ABC News)

New guideline tackles sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (Neurology Advisor)

Robots helping to teach students with autism in West Vancouver– (Global News)

Stop telling me I don’t look autistic (Metro)

Teaching Important life skills to kids with autism (Nurse Barb’s Daily Dose)

The innovating creative superpower of ADHD (Yes Magazine)

What teachers should know about ADHD and ASD (Edutopia)

When a child with autism gets lost (HuffPost)

8 Reasons Why You Should Hire Someone With Asperger’s Syndrome

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Source: (Life Hack)

When you hear the word Asperger’s, what kind of person do you think of?

Asperger’s Syndrome (ASP) is a type of mild autism that affects an average of 1 in 88 children in the US. In popular media, there are certain stereotypes attributed to people with Asperger’s (just think of Sheldon Cooper from TV’s Big Bang Theory). Often, due to their unusual gifts and behavior, highly creative and gifted people are labeled with Asperger’s, especially if they are socially awkward.

Furthermore, there’s been a trend recently where “experts” diagnose famous people with Asperger’s posthumously. The list of “diagnosed” includes Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, George Washington, and many others. Obviously, such post-mortem diagnoses are nonsense. Diagnosing Asperger’s is a difficult process and such diagnosis can only be established by psychiatrists or psychologists. They typically use specialized psychoeducational assessments to diagnose Asperger’s syndrome. To read the rest of the story, Click Here