Just 2 in 10 autistic people have a job, the lowest employment rate of all disabled groups. But diverse ways of thinking can bring huge benefits to companies. That’s why we are launching an ambitious but practical, research-led plan for doubling the number of autistic people in work by 2030. We are looking for funders and companies to make it happen.

In 2021 we released six visionary and ambitious goals. One of these goals is to double the employment rate by 2030. In order to achieve this, we developed the Autistica Employment Plan.

What's in the plan

In the Autistica Employment Plan, we describe a series of projects that we believe have the best chance of reducing the employment gap. Half of these projects are aimed at employers, the other half aim to support autistic people in finding work and getting the support they need. Each project is a chance to make a breakthrough for autistic people at a particular stage of their career.If these changes are made by 2030 we believe the employment rate for autistic people will double, so that 4 in 10 autistic people are in work.

How we created the plan

We have been working on the research elements of this plan over several years. We have trialled internships with major companies such as Deutsche Bank and carried out research with employees and managers in a number of small and large firms to understand the issues and possible solutions. For this plan we brought together a small group of autistic people, employers and researchers to review initial proposals. We then asked dozens of people with lived experience, professionals and scientific experts to help us refine the final plan.