For Autistic People
Ambitious about Autism
Ambitious about Autism have advice and tips for autistic people looking for employment.
They also have links to other initiatives to help people with neurodevelopmental conditions enter the workplace.
Click here to visit the Ambitious about Autism website.
The National Autistic Society (NAS)
The National Autistic Society (NAS) provide a variety of work programmes, training and resources for autistic jobseekers and employers looking to benefit from hiring a more diverse workforce.
Click here to visit the National Autistic Society (NAS) website.
The National Autistic Society (NAS) ‘Finding Employment’ free online course
This online course is for autistic people looking for employment to help them find out more about:
- The steps involved in applying for a job
- Understanding your own strengths and abilities
- Choosing a role
- Tips on writing a CV and/or cover letter
- Interview skills
- Starting work and reasonable adjustments
To complete the course firstly set up an online account – Autism Online Training
Next, click here to access the course- Finding employment online course
The National Autistic Society (NAS) online course ‘Finding Employment for Autistic Job Seekers’
Running until 20th September 2023 this series of free sessions run by The National Autistic Society’s Vanda Latchford aims to help autistic job seekers find employment.
Click here to access the course
Access to Work
The Government website has information about the Access to Work grant. Access to Work can provide practical and financial support to help you overcome barriers to starting or keeping a job, if you have a disability or long term physical or mental health condition.
This includes:
- Who can get help
- What you may get
- How to claim
- How to ask for your case to be reviewed
Click here to find out more about the Access to Work grant.
Click here to visit the Disability Rights UK website which also has a detailed factsheet dedicated to Access to Work and how it could help you secure and maintain employment.
Exceptional Individuals
Exceptional Individuals is a neurodiverse social enterprise that provides consulting, recruitment and employment support to employers and individuals with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and autism.
“As a neurodiverse social enterprise, it is our desire and responsibility to reflect what we encourage in our own business, which is why we ensure we have a richly diverse and neurodiverse team.
Out of the team of eighteen, over half are neurodiverse, and we believe this adds different perspectives, more creativity and social satisfaction to our working lives.”
Click here to visit the Exceptional Individuals website.
Disability Confident Employment Scheme
Disability Confident is an employment scheme that supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled and neurodivergent people can bring to their workplaces.
The scheme has a list of inclusive employers that can be downloaded here.
National Paid Work Opportunities
A range of organisations are working with employers to create a range of accessible job opportunities and support to candidates to access these opportunities:
- The National Autistic Society- Autism at Work Programme
- Exceptional Individuals – View job opportunities and discover partner organisations that have met their standards to be neurodiverse friendly
- Ambitious About Autism – Work experience opportunities and support to candidates
Autism Plus
Offering specialist care and support for adults and young people with neurodivergent conditions, learning disabilities and related conditions. This includes in work support for employees and apprentices.
Click here for more information about Autism Plus.
Employment Autism
A registered charity with the mission statement:
To support autistic people to have fulfilling and productive working relationships in inclusive and positive environments. We do this by:
- Enabling autistic people to find and be successful in suitable work
- Encouraging providers of work to employ autistic people and recognise the benefits they can bring to the workplace
Click here for more information about Employment Autism.
For autistic health and education professionals
The national autism implementation team have created two informative booklets especially for autistic health and education professionals.
Support for autistic professionals in education
Support for autistic professionals in health
For Employers
Click here to view and download an accessible pdf version of this infographic
Making meetings accessible
NHS England have a fantastic article on how to make meetings accessible including a section on making meetings accessible for autistic people.
Click here to view the making meetings accessible article.
Reasonable adjustments checklist
Cheshire and Wirral NHS Trust have designed a checklist to help make employment workplaces and meetings comfortable and accessible for neurodivergent people.
The checklist focuses on five main areas:
- Communication
- Health
- Environment
- Change
- Knowledge
Click here to view and download the checklist.
National Autistic Society – a guide for employers
The National Autistic Society have an in-depth guide for employers covering a range of topics such as interviews, training and the work environment.
Click here to view the employers guide article.
Ambitious about Autism – a downloadable toolkit for employers
Ambitious about Autism have a freely downloadable toolkit you can use to learn more about autism and information forms you can use when employing an autistic person. Supported by the Department for Education this excellent resource will support you to ensure your hiring process is autism friendly.
Click here to view the employers toolkit.
Work Colleague Profile
One idea to try (which we are also currently trying out in our very own digital team!) is to circulate a template for a work colleague profile (printable template below). This is an optional ‘about me’ worksheet which all employees can use to share information about themselves regardless of whether they are neurotypical or neurodiverse. It’s a lovely way for everyone to share and learn more about each other in a friendly, non-judgemental format. It’s important to note that all questions are optional, and we encourage the employers to also fill one out for inclusivity.
Click here to view or download this graphic as an accessible pdf
