{"id":30197,"date":"2015-12-11T10:56:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T10:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=30197"},"modified":"2016-10-17T16:14:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:14:26","slug":"in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Autism employment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The on-going fight to dispel autism myths and improve employment prospects.<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Autism means different things to different people. The spectrum can cover everything from mild difficulties with social interaction to very unstable and aggressive behaviours. As a result of this broad scale employers are wary of taking on people with autism because it\u2019s still largely misunderstood. In reality the majority of people with autism are more than capable of working in an array of workplaces, provided that businesses understand how to support them.<\/p>\n

In Cardiff there are some great examples of individuals and organisations that are working hard to improve employability either by offering training and work experience or by simply offering support to both employers and employees.<\/p>\n

\"Autism\"<\/a>

The autistic spectrum is so broad that care and support has to be tailored to each individuals needs. Picture; 1DPuppyLoverForever<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h2>\n

Opening doors<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only 15% of people with autism are employed in full time work. Of the autistic adults claiming benefits, 79% have expressed a desire to work but getting jobs has proved very challenging indeed. In October this year Liz Stewart opened the first autism friendly hairdressing salon, SP1, in Rhiwbina. Liz\u2019s son Delroy has Down\u2019s syndrome and he now manages the salon, they also employ staff with autism and offer training opportunities. Liz says that, \u201cThe main inspiration to open the salon was my son because there were no job opportunities around for people with additional needs and that\u2019s why we offer training here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>

People with autism are often overlooked for employment, but there\u2019s a lot they can do and often they do it very well. Picture; BLAcKjaCK0304<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Liz explained that Delroy had finished college earlier this year and applied for many jobs with no success. She believes that it\u2019s a real struggle to get employers to take on employees with autism and other behavioural disabilities, \u201cIt\u2019s not their fault and there are thousands of people in their position looking for work.\u201d Liz hopes that the salon is just the beginning and that as the business expands she will be able to offer more and more job opportunities to those with additional needs. Liz works part time at the salon and isn\u2019t currently receiving a wage from the business so she can pay her four employees.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s a lot of diverse opinion about how autism should be portrayed and discussed, we\u2019re not asking people to agree with our take on it but we are asking them to engage with it”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz doesn\u2019t think that there\u2019s enough happening to support young autistic adults with finding work, \u201cIt\u2019s almost as if our kids reach a certain age and everything just stops,\u201d she says. Liz did however speak fondly of Whitchurch based charity Autism Puzzles who recently launched a new scheme called Autism Champions. The scheme aims to train businesses so that they are able to employ and manage autistic individuals. Autism Puzzles is a charity run by parents of autistic children, they frequently run drop in sessions, information workshops and training sessions as well as family fun days.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

No quick wins<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Cardiff and Vale branch of the National Autistic Society is entirely made up of parents offering support services. Lynda Morgan is one such parent, not only is she heavily involved with the support group but she also has a job and works one day a week at Cardiff University in the Autism Research Centre.<\/p>\n

Lynda believes that things are improving, \u201cCompared to five years ago there\u2019s a lot more going on to improve employability.\u201d However whilst there are a lot of initiatives out there not all are seeing results. Lynda says that, \u201cSome of the courses offer work experience for a couple of weeks but nothing further, whereas others are about getting people into full time jobs and keeping them there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Autism\"<\/a>

It wasn\u2019t so long ago that vaccination was believed to cause autism; medical experts have since thrown out the theory. Picture; Amanda Mills<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are no quick wins with this,\u201d says Lynda. \u201cIt will take some time to see whether or not the initiatives are actually having an impact.\u201d There are also events happening in and around Cardiff to raise awareness about autism more generally. In early December Touch Blue, Touch Yellow<\/em> was performed at Chapter Arts Centre. Written by Tim Rhys, the play attempts to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions that surround autism. Chris Durnall says that \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of diverse opinion about how autism should be portrayed and discussed, we\u2019re not asking people to agree with our take on it but we are asking them to engage with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting people to engage and discuss autism is key to dispelling the reservations that business owners have about hiring someone with autism. There\u2019s a lot happening in Cardiff at lots of different levels to encourage businesses to take on autistic staff. Thanks to the hard work of determined parent organisations such as Autism Puzzles and ventures like SP1 and Touch Blue, Touch Yellow<\/em>, autism is being brought more and more into the light. Hopefully this growing focus will lead to more opportunities for autistic individuals to show employers all that they have to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The community movements opening doors to employment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,55],"tags":[2929,10975,709,2040,10974],"yoast_head":"\nIn depth: Autism employment - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alt.Cardiff examines how local support movements are opening the doors to employment for adults with autism.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In depth: Autism employment - alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alt.Cardiff examines how local support movements are opening the doors to employment for adults with autism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-11T10:56:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-17T16:14:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/\",\"name\":\"alt.cardiff\",\"description\":\"If it\\u2019s offbeat and in Cardiff then it\\u2019s online here.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/people_with_autism_might__by_1dpuppyloverforever-d6967t9-e1449797533673.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/no-logo\/in-depth-are-employers-overlooking-those-with-autism\",\"name\":\"In depth: Autism employment - 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