The Faraway CIC Launch: My presentation about Autistic Employment Barriers

In December the community interest company I do a bit of research for (supported employment, the DWP know about it), had their official launch and I presented the research I’d done about the employment situation for Autistic adults in North East Lincolnshire.

Yes, that really is my voice.

I had a script and sort of stuck to it, but not all of it. I’ve added it below for people who don’t want to endure my voice or need captions.

Slide 2

Good afternoon, my name is Rosemarie Cawkwell. Some of you may know me. I’ve been about for a couple of years, ever since I got my diagnosis in May 2018. In order to get my diagnosis I had to have an almighty mental health crisis. Fun that, don’t recommend it. I work as a research assistant for the Faraway CIC, which makes use of some of my skills. I have a background in the sciences and creative writing and read constantly. Turns out being a bibliophile has a use, since I started collecting books about being autistic as soon as I got my diagnosis. My need to find out ‘all the things’ has worked out well, since I now apply the information and resources I’ve mined to my job.

One of the aims of The Faraway CIC is to improve the lives of local autistic adults. This year has been an annus horribilis if ever I saw one and Autistic and other disabled people have really borne the brunt of it. My first project with the CIC was a survey of local autistic adults about their employment situation and if/how COVID 19 has affected that. Of which more, later.

I currently have two other projects running, the Spectrum Online, formerly the Digital Isolation project, aimed at helping people who have limited or no access to the internet gain access. Currently, you can apply for help by going to http://www.thefarawaycic.org/SpectrumOnline and filling in the form. In the projects tab you’ll also be able to find out about our other projects – a writing group and the mentoring programme. I recommend both. The Adult Autism Service team are helping with this one by asking newly diagnosed people about their internet access and helping fill in the paper form if people need it. Later, once the current round of restrictions lift, we will be distributing leaflets so people who don’t have any contact with the service currently can find out about it. I’d be really grateful if you represent a service and think this would help your clients, to please share.

The second project I am running at the moment is to find out exactly what people want from the CIC in terms of interest groups. There are several possible groups we may be able to set up or we might be able to direct people in the direction of currently available services. There is a lot of demand for employment support, and arts and crafts. 

Slide 3

In Janine Booth’s Autism Equality in the Workplace we learn that only 15% of autistic adults are in full time employment. Now, while ‘full-time’ is the goal for society and you get judged by your ability to do so, not every autistic person can manage it. Personally, I found working part time much more manageable if I want to be able to look after myself too. Hard to cook, wash and clean if you haven’t got any energy. However, the stat is a good stand in for what we really need to know, how many autistic people are working?

In the employment survey that I undertook during the summer, twenty-seven people told me about their employment experiences. I was able to get people from a variety of genders, age and employment status to fill in my little survey and I’m very grateful to them for their time. 33%, or 9, of the respondents were in employment of some form, whether that’s ft, pt, emp, self-emp. While various stats are given about the full-time employment of autistic people, but Janine Booth quotes 15% compared with 31% of disabled adults and 57% of non-disabled adults. That’s pretty grim.

Slide 4

We need to look at factors affecting employment figures in the general population as well as the autistic population.

North East Lincolnshire has a greater percentage of people in workless households than the region or the country. Educational attainment is lower than in the region or the country. Employment is mainly in manufacturing, retail and human health and social work. Now, I’ve done jobs in most of those sectors, and I have to say, I don’t recommend it. Very loud, bright, cliquey sorts of environments, and boring, low paid jobs. Really not good for the autistic brain.

A recent report by The Institute for Leadership and Management, Workplace Diversity: The Power of Difference, showed that 1 in 4 employers said they would not employ an autistic person, and half said they wouldn’t employ people with any form of neurodivergence, be that ADHD, Autism, Tourette’s, Dyslexia etc. If these are the figures for employers who are willing to admit that they would discriminate against neurodivergent people, how many won’t admit it but would still discriminate? They’re excluding about 15% of the population. Is it any wonder that Autistic people struggle to find employment?

Given the local conditions and the attitudes of employers to neurodivergent employees, what I found in my research isn’t unexpected. People have to decide if they disclose during application, take the risk of being dismissed out of hand, or not admitting and then struggling to get reasonable accommodations, being underpaid or underemployed, bullied or sacked once they do disclose.

Slide 5

And what did I find?

As I said at the start, of 27 respondents, 9 are currently employed. 18, or 2/3^rds of my respondents are unemployed, although some are undertaking voluntary work. But this is about paid employment. Voluntary work gets you experience, but we need money to pay the bills.

I want to break it down by gender, since men and women commonly have different work experiences. Many women, for example give up work to care for children and older relatives or work part time around these unpaid caring roles. How does this affect the autistic population? I wonder, if I interviewed older people, those diagnosed in childhood or early adulthood, and those diagnosed in older adulthood, who would have had the better outcomes, who would have had the life they wanted?

Slide 6

Of our male respondents, equal numbers were in full-time and part time employment, either employed or self-employed. But that’s only 6 of the 16 men who responded. Another six were unemployed and not looking for employment, either because they had worked then became too ill and had decided not to seek employment for the time being, or because they were too ill or their disability prevented them from working at all. The most worrying group are the 26 – 35 year olds who, having finished their education, cannot find work and yet want to work. These make up a quarter of the male respondents. These are the people who should be at the beginning of their careers and yet haven’t had a job and are searching for work. Why are the talents and enthusiasm of these young people being wasted?

Slide 7

27.3% of women who responded were employed.

Here we see that older women, unlike older men, are less likely to be in work or seeking work. The reasons for this are medical. Some have worked but have found employers unwilling to make reasonable accommodations. For younger women, medical reasons apply again but there is a feeling of despondency in the responses, lack of suitable employment that can work with being autistic make people feel like there’s no point in applying, that people don’t understand them. I would have been among these if I hadn’t got this job.

And one person is COVID shielding.

For those in employment, at all ages, 2/3rds are self-employed, whether because of childcare responsibilities or because part-time is what works for the respondent. Only one woman is working full-time. They are fairly young, and I hope they don’t get burnt out as I did when their age and working full time. I hope they’ve found their niche, as I hadn’t at that age. They do report having had many jobs but found that employers could be difficult about them being autistic.

A greater percentage of women, compared to men, were unemployed and men also had greater variety in the hours they worked and whether they were employed or self-employed.

Slide 8

This slide gives us a fairly comprehensive list of the reasons people gave for not being able to work. Personal reasons can be summed up to medical ‘stuff’. Some of it we can’t really do much about – sorry I can’t magic a cure for ME or epilepsy out of thin air. Confidence is a skill we can work on and coping mechanisms for anxiety can be learnt. I hope. Personally, I use meds for that. *laugh*

While there are some things we can’t change, it is the external barriers that can be dealt with. As you can see, most of them are about the attitude of other people. That we might be able to do something about – in providing training and awareness. It would definitely help if the Jobcentre staff were more understanding. One of the respondents put it like this: it’s hit and miss – sometimes you get a work coach who understands and tries to help, but most of the time you don’t. 25 of 27 respondents answered questions about the jobcentre, 13 said they found the staff unhelpful and lacking in knowledge, while 8 said they were sometimes helpful and only 4 found that the jobcentre staff were helpful.

Many of the respondents who are now unemployed but were once in work found that they were bullied by colleagues and management. Reasonable accommodations were refused or half-heartedly attempted.

For a lot of autistic people, it is hard to enjoy a job when it doesn’t provide any joy, if it bores them or if they are highly specilised in their interests. There are assumptions about what autistic people are good at, based on stereotypes. We don’t all like computers, some of use write and paint, make music and sew. But it’s hard to find jobs in either creative or IT careers in the area. Many of the younger respondents, those under thirty, had never worked, either for medical reason or because they simply couldn’t find employment in the area that matched their interests and qualifications. We’re talking about highly qualified people who have experience in voluntary and ‘personal’ capacities but have never had a paying job purely because the work isn’t available.

The Exhibition Lucy and I are arranging for next year must help us show off the creative talents. Don’t know what I can do for my geeks, but I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually *laugh*.

There’s one thing on there that is personal and external – the plague. Sorry, I mean COVID-19. Surprisingly, only one of our respondents were out of work due to the pandemic. The current situation doesn’t seem to have affected autistic employment in the way it has affected the general population, although that’s probably due to the local industry, where many people are considered essential workers. Food factories are among those, and those are really bad places for many autistic people. We’re already out of work, so a situation such as this pandemic doesn’t really affect us on that front. It has other consequences but those are not the focus of this survey.

So, these are our barriers, what are we going to do about it?

Slide 9

The Faraway CIC is here for autistic people. One of our first projects was setting up the employment group. Peter has spoken about that and if you’re interested, email him at peter@thefarawaycic.org. Part of this could involve the drawing up of a skills profile to find out what it is we’re good at. We will be setting up other interest groups that may eventually help with employment. I am currently running a survey about groups people might be interested in. We’re starting an arts and crafts group, on a Monday morning. There’s also the exhibition next year. We have musicians, writers, poets and artists already providing content for the Exhibition. Email lucy@thefarawaycic.org if you’re interested in either.

We’re keen to make connections with other organisations that might be able to help and to be able to signpost people to other useful services, such as Employability.

One of the respondents to the survey suggested an employment agency specifically for neurodivergent people and another suggested a mentor could help them apply for jobs away from the area and then assist with the mechanics of moving to an unknown area, such as help finding accommodation, settling into the new job, helping them to find contacts in the area such as autistic organisations or hobby groups they could join in advance so that they already had a small social group in place for support. I’m not sure about the employment agency idea, but if someone out there has the experience and want to run with it, go ahead, there’s a need.

For people in employment we can offer Autism Champions training, which is a particularly important project to Thomas. For both autistic people and for employers this training will be a boon. Learning more about autistic people, our skills, differences and needs can help both employers and employees forge better understanding with each other, and a better understanding between colleagues.

Bearing in mind the Institute of Leadership and Management report, employers have a lot of work to do. We’re here, we’re willing, just give us the chance.

Slide 10

Here’s a reminder of the currently running surveys, if they apply to you and you haven’t already done so, fill them in.

Slide 11

Thank you for your time, if I’ve rambled a bit, I apologise. Now, any questions?