Autistic people face very high level of discrimination in all aspects of life. When it comes to employment, according to the European Parliament, the success rate of autistic people is a shockingly 10% or less.

 

What barriers do you believe people with autism are facing when it comes to employability?

 

People with autism often struggle to gain and maintain employment for a range of reasons, such as:

 

Autistic people lack vocational training and lifelong learning opportunities. We need to highlight the importance of dedicating European funds to promote inclusion of autistic people.

 

Autistic people lack provision of reasonable accommodation at work. Reasonable accommodations are changes or adaptations an employer makes to the workplace, such as adjustments to the workplace environment or to a specific work routine or practice. These adaptations support autistic people and people with other disabilities to carry out their work and access the same training and development opportunities on an equal footing as their non-disabled colleagues. It also entails offering flexible working hours, substituting workplace tasks and providing access to training and workplace supports.

 

When employed, autistic people tend to be in low-wage positions that do not meet their qualifications. The proposed EU Directive on Minimum Wage should help reduce wage disparities between persons with and without disabilities across the EU, and foster better quality of life and social protection for workers with disabilities. Most of autistic people with complex support needs are not in education, employment and/or training.

 

#access4all #erasmusplus #inclusionmeans

For more information:

https://www.autismeurope.org/what-we-do/areas-of-action/employment/