Alumni Progress
- Existential Academy, London
- Monday 4th February 2019
Autistic adults are particularly disadvantaged in terms of employment with only 16% in full-time employment (NAS) compared to 47% of people with other disabilities (Office of National Statistics, 2016). Despite many having the ability and desire to work, and the presence of many employment initiatives, employment rates remain stubbornly low.
Research into the barriers and enablers to employment for autistic people has shown that various HR practices are not suitable, such as standardised recruitment practices or certain workplace processes and practices. This would suggest that employers’ understanding of autism and of the needs of the individual is poor. In addition, very little is known about the attitudes of employers towards autistic employees.
I am investigating the attitudes of employers towards hiring autistic people. This work will explore:
- the extent to which organisations are willing to hire autistic people
- perceived barriers and enablers to the employment of autistic people
- general awareness of employers regarding the abilities and needs of autistic employees
Once this has been identified, recommendations can be made to encourage organisations to hire autistic people.
References
NAS: https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/tmi/employment.aspx
Office for National Statistics (2016) Dataset: A08: Labour market status of disabled people (20 July 2016).