Who is the event for? HR professionals, senior managers, and those with responsibilities for workplace inclusion, equality and diversity.
Hear from cutting edge employers and how they have adapted their practises to become more inclusive – and have benefited as a result! Be inspired by successful autistic professionals who will break down misconceptions, share their knowledge of effective inclusive practice, and use their own experiences to promote autism acceptance.
Almost 80% of autistic adults are unemployed. Not only is this statistic shocking in terms of the personal impact on these individuals, but it also highlights the extent to which businesses are missing out on the rich and diverse skills and qualities of autistic employees and the benefits that autistic people can bring to the workplace.
Our 2021 Autism Employability Summit will address common misconceptions, raise awareness, and empower businesses and organisations with the knowledge and understanding to make culture changes that will enhance inclusivity, diversify their workforce, and increase opportunities for autistic job seekers.
Tony Waters – Health and Wellbeing Benefits Manager, Cummins
Tony will share his experiences of partnering with Daisy Chain to provide a work placement opportunity for an autistic job seeker, who has since begun full time employment with Cummins as part of a two-year apprenticeship.
Pete Wharmby – Autistic speaker, author, and former secondary school teacher
Pete will provide an insight into the barriers faced by autistic job seekers when it comes to traditional recruitment processes as well as adaptations to improve inclusivity and enhance access to autism talent. He will share his own personal experiences of working as a secondary school English teacher for almost 15 years, including the moment he revealed his autism diagnosis to the Headteacher.
Lee Corless – Autism work and Inclusion Specialist
Drawing on his experiences of developing one of the world’s leading autism at work programmes, Lee will debunk misconceptions around reasonable adjustments and share simple and effective approaches for the successful employment of neurodiverse individuals. He will provide evidence-based statistics and information highlighting the benefits of recruiting autistic employees, including retention rates, commercial impact, and productivity.
Kelly Grainger – Successful businessman and now autistic keynote speaker and trainer (Co-founder of Perfectly Autistic) who formerly worked within senior sales roles (including PepsiCo and Merlin Entertainments), creating and leading sales teams.
Kelly will share his unique insight and experiences of working within the corporate world for 23 years and receiving an autism diagnosis as an adult in his forties. He will discuss the negative reaction he received when he told his global corporation that he was autistic and why he set up Perfectly Autistic. He will share neurodiversity friendly principles that businesses can use to create a healthy, happy, and productive workforce for all. He will examine the impact of autistic masking and how businesses can create a culture of workplace acceptance.
