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Findings, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
Stigma is the biggest barrier to autistic employment, Sandra Thom-Jones argued
In short
At the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium, the researcher told an employment panel that autistic people lose out at every stage of work because of what others believe about them.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
Sandra Thom-Jones was asked to name one reason so many autistic people are out of work, and she rejected the premise that the cause lies with autistic people. Speaking on the employment panel at the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in June 2024, the researcher and workplace consultant said “autistic people have an amazing array of skills and can do almost any job that’s out there.” If she had to pick a single barrier, she said, it was the stereotypes and stigma that run across society, and she said that finding came up consistently in her research.
Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, opened with the figures that framed it. He told the audience that autistic people had an unemployment rate of about 34 per cent on official statistics, eight times the rate for neurotypical people, and said the true rate was probably higher because a lot of autistic people are not represented in the data. Employment, he said, shapes every part of an autistic person’s life outcomes.
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Sources the story draws on
- Facts at a glance (South Australian Autism Strategy 2024 to 2029) (opens in a new tab), Department of Human Services South Australia (Inclusive SA)
- Autism in Australia, 2022 (opens in a new tab), Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Autism and Employment Research Report (Employment Community Attitudes and Lived Experiences) (opens in a new tab), Amaze
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