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Employ Autism campaign

Employ Autism

What is Employ Autism?

Employ Autism was a campaign originally developed by Youth Patrons to highlight the inequalities they faced when trying to access employment.

 

What did the Employ Autism campaign involve?

Concerned about high unemployment rates among autistic adults, Youth Patrons launched the campaign with the aim of increasing employment opportunities for autistic people. One of the main problems identified was a need for better work experience opportunities for autistic people. In response to this need, Ambitious about Autism worked with the Civil Service to set up a pilot version of the programme in 2015.

The pilot took place during the summer of 2015 and five young autistic people undertook a two-week work experience placement in high-level government departments - including HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions. These young people had the opportunity to build confidence, gain experience and develop an understanding of working at the Civil Service.

 

What were the Employ Autism campaign outcomes?

Ambitious about Autism has continued to work to increase autistic young people's access to employment through supported internships.

This campaign was the inspiration behind the development of our Employ Autism network. We want to see more autistic people successfully bridge the gap from education to employment over the next three years. This programme will build on the success of paid work experience programme on a national scale. We will create local partnerships in six areas across England to support autistic people move successfully from education into employment. 

Download our resources

Read our resources related to this youth-led campaign.

Employ Autism 2016 campaign summary

Find out more about the previous campaign.