Imagine you walk into a job interview. Your prospective boss smiles. You’re prepared. You’re qualified.
But you have to leave because the pressure is weighing down on your chest, the walls are closing in, time is running out and you know you’ve failed.
This is the reality for many people who have autism.
This upsetting but emotive film, made by The National Autistic Society, illustrates how autism can impact your confidence and the ability to process and convey communication which so many of us take for granted.
According to a report published by the organisation – the UK’s leading autism charity – just 16 per cent of autistic adults are in paid employment even though over half of these people actively want a job.
Without an understanding of autism, many employers overlook these individual’s abundant skills, instead seeing a problem.
The interviewee film explains:
I’m not unemployable. I’m autistic.
You can help close the employment gap for autistic people, by signing a petition demanding our government helps more people with autism get jobs by 2020 and stay true to their commitment to halve disability unemployment.
If any of the issues raised in this video affect you, advice and help is out there.
Visit the website for the #AutismTMI campaign for tips and tricks in the workplace and other people’s real life stories.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.