Only 3 out of 10 autistic people are in any kind of employment and autistic graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed 15 months after graduating. They are also most likely to be overqualified, in zero-hours contracts and in non-permanent roles (AGCAS).
Yet with minor adjustments and support, autistic people make reliable and conscientious employees. They have the ability to focus for long periods without distraction. They can work with high levels of accuracy and attention to detail, are skilled in technical abilities (e.g., in IT), and have excellent memory and detailed subject knowledge.
We’ve been supporting a project at the Sheffield Autism Research lab ( ShARL ) at Sheffield University. The project has produced resources for employers around Autism in the workplace and the benefits of hiring autistic people.
The project is coproduced with autistic people and the resources are now live in a mix of downloadable resources, info sheets and videos at ShARL
