The Specialists 2023-01-19

[Forest Cat]

Forest Cat submitted a new resource:

The Specialists - This foundation works to enable one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges.

This is a Danish company that started 10 years ago and it has expanded to several countries. There is a list of countries on their site. They help people with autism secure meaningful employment and also help with the social part of it, providing support to help ease into a new situation and so on. They try to find out what peoples abilities are, what they are good at and then find work that fits them. They started with computer work but have branched out into other sectors.

Read more about this resource...

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I am finding this very interesting.

While I did not get fired from jobs, I was unsuccessful (and left on my own, shedding tears in my car.)

Reading “10 unfortunate and unfair reasons autistic people get fired” brought tears to my eyes. I recognized so many of them.

I became familiar with the pattern and certainly heard the same criticisms over and over, but could not understand what I was doing wrong, or why it was wrong.

I’m past needing a job, but this sure helps my understanding.

 

[Forest Cat]

I am finding this very interesting.

While I did not get fired from jobs, I was unsuccessful (and left on my own, shedding tears in my car.)

Reading “10 unfortunate and unfair reasons autistic people get fired” brought tears to my eyes. I recognized so many of them.

I became familiar with the pattern and certainly heard the same criticisms over and over, but could not understand what I was doing wrong, or why it was wrong.

I’m past needing a job, but this sure helps my understanding.

I have been watching a Danish series on tv lately, it's called "The Hidden Talents" and that company is involved in it. It was very interesting. Yesterday there was a girl on it who was given a 2 year plan, things she would do at work for the next two years. She then did it all in three and a half months. So they gave her a bonus and a big pat on the back and she started crying a little and it stressed her out because it didn't fit what she was expecting, it was too much for her. And it made so much sense. But it worked out for her. I haven't found a version with English subtitles unfortunately, it's in Danish only so far. I'll add a link here if I find something with subtitles.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I misread the title. I thought it was going to be a thread about:

 

[Forest Cat]

I misread the title. I thought it was going to be a thread about:

I didn't really mean to make a thread, I tried to add a resource. There's a menu on top of the page that says "resources". Maybe I did it wrong, I'll have to look into it.

 

[Owliet]

Forest Cat submitted a new resource:

The Specialists - This foundation works to enable one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges.



Read more about this resource...

This is not too different from the Autistic clinic that has some places in Switzerland. The problem is that in Switzerland it is highly dependent on several specific hoops that you have to go through, plus they actually pay the workplace to hire you if necessary as a “supportive” package. Aside from that, it doesn’t really do much to support autistics in the work force.

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• Re-thinking conventional interviews (e.g. asking open ended questions such as ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years?’ or judging the candidate based on their body language)”

One of the things that annoy me during interviews is being asked these ridiculous questions. I had one once that asked me about my biggest weakness, and I didnt prepare for that because on reading up how to conduct myself in an interview the person who wrote the advice article said it was very unlikely that someone would ask that question because its a waste of a question (they said more About it). I sat there for a while trying to think what would be the best responSe. I couldn’t be too honest. I had to answer with what they wanted to hear and I just didnt do that. I also got judged that I was very anxious. I may have been but I was not at the stage that I would feel myself to be anxious. The amount of job interviews that I have had had since that say that they wont take my application further because I come across as anxious is so ridiculously unfair. It is never about my qualifications or what I have done. It is never taken into account my references where I’ve had people say that I did a good job for these reasons and I’m good at it. OH no, its about how anxious I am. It seems that it = to not being able to do the job when its not. I get that sometimes I lack the experience although its like how do you expect me to get experience here…One of the things that always make me laugh is whenever you see the blurb that its a diverse and inclusive workplace….hahaha Not always.

 

[Forest Cat]

This is not too different from the Autistic clinic that has some places in Switzerland. The problem is that in Switzerland it is highly dependent on several specific hoops that you have to go through, plus they actually pay the workplace to hire you if necessary as a “supportive” package. Aside from that, it doesn’t really do much to support autistics in the work force.

I think we have some of the same system here, jumping through hoops and feeling like they don't really do much to help people with autism. And we also have that pay-thing, it's possible to hire people with disabilities and then get the employment department to pay their salary. And that can be exploited, if you make a deal that the department will pay their salary the first 12 months, then you can just fire them after 12 months and you have had 12 months of free labour.

But I'm impressed by the way that Danish company does things. I have watched more episodes of that series I mentioned and they seem to really know what they are doing. They have some expertise when it comes to autism. The people I saw in that series did well and they recevied a lot of good support. For example, one guy did well at his new job but his living situation wasn't good for him. So they helped him find a more suitable place to live and that helped a lot.

 

[VictorR]

I didn't really mean to make a thread, I tried to add a resource. There's a menu on top of the page that says "resources". Maybe I did it wrong, I'll have to look into it.

When a resource is added, there is also an accompanying discussion thread created as well.

 

[Forest Cat]

I found a video about the company, it's a little old, it was filmed back when they started but I'll post it here anyway. The owners son has autism so he has some personal reasons to do what he does.