“That’s fantastic,” said Dr James Cusack, the organisation’s CEO, who gave a brief presentation on Autistica’s work to the crowd at the awards event (pictured above). “I just want to say a huge ‘thank you’ for supporting us. As a charity, we’re able to catalyse innovations that have a massive impact on people’s lives. In relative terms, we’re a small charity but globally, we’re recognised for the impact that we have. So thank you for having us as your charity!”

Founded in 2004, the UK-based charity is engaged in funding and campaigning for research on autism and related conditions. Its research strategy is focused on improving the understanding of mental health, physical health, language and epilepsy in autism.

Among the research projects underway at Autistica is one built around the concept of a ‘readiness for work’ academy. This is aimed at understanding how people with autism can be helped to “develop skills they need to prepare for the workplace, being ready for work”, including experience with social interactions, Cusack told Recruiter.

“It’s not just about having good exam results,” he explained.

“We have to recognise that autistic people don’t always have the same opportunities to develop those skills, [through] participating in social clubs or playing with football teams. Maybe even having a part-time job might just be quite challenging for some. We need to really recognise that’s a bit of an issue for autistic people to have that extra level of readiness for work, and also to think about how work might look for them.”

Cusack, who received his diagnosis of autism as a child, went on to say: “What we’re looking to do is engage with autistic people who are getting to the stage of late childhood, to understand how this would be best delivered to them and build confidence, to show that access to work is something that is possible for them, even if it might require certain adjustments. This is about understanding and a perspective of how we can best support them and what the best ways are to reach the most amount of people, which will have the biggest impact.”

Implemented earlier this year was an index to provide a measure of neuroinclusion for organisations. The NDEI (Neurodiversity Employers Index) will enable organisations to measure themselves against best practice, with suggestions on how they can improve, and an annual awards programme. When completed, organisations will receive a personalised report, a score, and recommendations for improvements and signpost to resources to help make those changes. All organisations will be invited to be listed in the annual market report, which will help them to attract neurodivergent talent.

Both projects characterise two pillars that Autistica is built on, Cusack said: “They are around empowering autistic people but also empowering employers to understand neurodiversity.”

To contact Autistica, click here.

BY DeeDee Doke