As part of World Autism Awareness Month, we've set out our commitment to working with the video games industry for better research, inclusion and awareness.

At a launch event at the BFI Southbank in London last week we brought together video game fans, game developers and researchers to discuss autism and games.

Speakers at the event included CEO of the Association of UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) Dr Jo Twist OBE. BFI Head of Certification Anna Mansi, who hosted the event, said: 

“It was a pleasure to host this event to link Autistica with video games players and the video games industry and we hope that this kickstarts relationships that can benefit the sector and society now and in the long-term.” 

We believe the games industry presents many opportunities to improve autistic people’s lives:

• A huge number of autistic people enjoy playing video games and many are attracted to careers in the industry.
• Just 16% of autistic people are in full time employment. Autistic talent can be hugely beneficial to the video games industry, but employers need to be open to different ways of working. 

Driving our commitment forward

We've employed a new Games Partnerships Manager, Jake Mackey who previously worked in the video games industry to work with companies who are keen to employ autistic people, get involved in research and support fundraising and awareness.

These partnerships should benefit both sides - resulting in better games but also building longer, healthier, happier lives for autistic people.