World Autism Awareness Day

The United Nations General Assembly has designated April 2^nd as World Autism Awareness Day to raise awareness, promote inclusion, and recognize the contributions that people with autism make to the community.

The importance of making society more inclusive and supportive for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cannot be overstated. According to Statistics Canada (2020), “ASD has the highest unemployment rate of all disabilities — 80%.” In addition, according to CMHC (2020), people with autism “are increasingly at risk for food and shelter insecurity and homelessness.”

During a chat with Sayana, Employment Placement Manager at the Pacific Autism Family Network (PAFN), we learned more about how PAFN works with individuals and organizations to help youth overcome the barriers to employment.

Autism is a lifelong neurological difference and because it is a spectrum, each individual will have a different way of learning new information.

Many employment seekers with ASD struggle with searching for employment online and navigating the impersonal online applications.

Successful applicants are generally invited for an in-person interview. For those who have social skill, communication, or mental health challenges, in-person interviews are difficult to navigate. The interviewee may have a difficult time communicating what skills they have. For some, they may not understand the nuances of the questions. For example, the standard, “Tell me about yourself” question may be answered with, “I have brown hair and hazel eyes,” instead of the person sharing their school or work experiences.

Job training may also have barriers for those with autism. Training differs, depending on the job, but it is often rigid in structure and lacks the flexibility to meet different needs. For example, perhaps directions or instructions on how to do something are written or given verbally, but the applicant requires the task to be demonstrated, or vice versa.

On top of learning the job itself, there are the nuances of dress code requirements, uniforms, and interacting with staff or, in some cases, customers or clients.

Online job posts can be difficult to understand and raise questions such as:

When these challenges arise, PAFN may ask the potential employer if the applicant could job shadow instead, to understand the expectations and requirements of the job.

If the applicant is successful and lands an interview, PAFN may request a working interview, as opposed to a sit-down interview. That way, the person with autism can demonstrate their skills, rather than try to tell the employer about them.

Approximately three years ago, Desiree, Life Skills Coordinator at Covenant House Vancouver (CHV) was working with a youth with autism, to try to find them pre-employment support, because they had no experience in the workforce.

Desiree came across PAFN, who offer a range of services and supports for people with autism. They have a pre-employment program called Employment Works designed to support neurodivergent youth, with the focus of getting them ready to enter the workforce.

Employment Works is a 12-week program that helps youth understand their strengths and interests, employment culture, and helps develop their skills. Part of the program involves job shadowing to experience different employment opportunities, and discover what environments and opportunities best suit them.

This program offers other supports for youth such as covering the cost of bus passes and work shoes. For those who go on to positions where they require certification, Employment Works will cover the cost of FOODSAFE and Serving It Right.

The youth that Desiree was working with really enjoyed their Employment Works experience, which led them to become the first employee to be hired at the Paper Planes Café.  

Paper Planes Café is a partnership between Vancouver International Airport and PAFN,  located in the Domestic Arrivals area on Level 2 at YVR. The Café opened in 2023.

Once young people complete the Employment Works program, and if they have an interest in customer service or working in a café setting, they may receive six months of supported training at the Café.

The Café hires neurodivergent youth who work with neurotypical managers and trainers. In addition to all of the training that youth receive, the Café offers staff a living wage. This unique program offers training and employment experience under one roof.

Some of the employment skills that youth develop are:

In addition to skills, young people also learn how to navigate the nuances of a work environment. For some youth, email and communicating with people is a challenge. This program helps youth learn how to figure out their work schedules, communicate with colleagues, how to ask questions confidently, and how to discern when you should bring something up with your manager.

The process of finding employment for youth after they have completed the Paper Planes program is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Paper Planes experience. PAFN staff check in and chat with youth. For example, do the youth like the customer service part of the experience, but not food preparation, or would they like to focus on the retail aspect, or would they prefer to do something completely different?

If, for example, a youth is interested in retail, the staff member could ask them about their interests and propose some of the employers that PAFN has relationships with. Or the youth may like a store that is located near their home and then PAFN staff will contact that employer. If youth would like to pursue something completely different, PAFN staff may suggest some positions that they think that the youth would be a good fit for.

However the conversation goes, generally staff are helping youth craft their resume after a few months into the Paper Planes program. When it comes to sending out resumes, some youth meet up with PAFN staff and apply together and some prefer PAFN to send out their resumes to employers.

Ideally, as youth are coming to the end of the program, they are already involved in some job shadowing or even working interviews.

To date, including one who has just started at Paper Planes, seven CHV youth have been involved in the program.

There are many positive outcomes that PAFN staff have seen.

When youth with autism have overcome a barrier and acquired a new skill at Paper Planes, staff have observed that youth will support another trainee by teaching them what they have learned. So not only has the youth learned a new skill, but they have also developed the cognitive ability to transfer what they’ve learned to someone else.

A huge outcome that staff have observed is confidence. This is not only seen through peer-to-peer support, but also when a youth has overcome something that they had been struggling with when they first started. One youth from CHV could only manage four-hour shifts when they started. PAFN staff encouraged them to try to do longer shifts. The youth was unsure, but one day when they were busy, the youth inadvertently worked an extra 30 minutes. They saw that their progression was doable and continued to increase the length of their shifts.

Youth with autism can also be great problem solvers. There was a youth in the Paper Planes program who was very good at art and who learned how to steam milk. At the end of the program, they thought that it would be helpful to have illustrations on how to steam milk on the wall. The youth took it upon themselves to create the images and laminate them, so now other youth can benefit from their work. Youth with autism offer a different way of looking at things that can create more inclusive solutions.

Due to the connection and overrepresentation of youth with autism in the homeless population, last summer, PAFN offered their Employment Works program to a cohort of youth at CHV. They plan to run another cohort this summer.

We are grateful for the opportunity to work with PAFN and to work together to provide youth with autism more supports and opportunities to build the lives that they want for themselves.