It’s been a time of intense change at the National Autistic Society during a pandemic that has created a lot of turbulence for autistic people and their families. Yet throughout this time I have been learning that intense change is needed to drive wider change and to create opportunities for people. Case in point − the new strategy that will set our charity’s course for the next three years, which will take us in a sharper, more focused direction than the charity has taken in the past. 

As someone who’s a grizzly frontline animal of an autistic job coach, I took a somewhat slower route than other individuals who were more closely involved in developing the strategy to appreciating it, but now that the dust is settling, I can appreciate it truly.  I did appreciate the level of effort that had been put in though, through sessions to see the level of thinking that had been put into the Moonshot Vision and then the strategy itself. Filling in the electronic surveys, wondering what thoughts of mine would carry through and what would actually be done. Then finally seeing the results, first in a staff briefing, then reflecting on it individually, I realised that there was − and is − a lot to like in the strategy which focuses on our work both outside and inside the charity. 

For example, the employer kitemark that’s under development could create a similar level of inspiration as the Autism Friendly Award has done for efforts to improve public spaces for autistic people. That and to see the National Autistic Society aiming to lead by example in tandem with the creation of said kitemark means that we’re taking a two-pronged approach to employment, improving ourselves and society. We’re also specifically focusing on improving opportunities for people from ethnic minorities, something that needs more improvement and we know is a priority. 

Some of the things we’ll be doing over the next three years are admittedly more of the same but that’s not a bad thing. For example, by training employers via the Autism at Work programme and through training and consultancy, we’ll be able to spread more best practice, which means more autism-friendly employers. We’ll also be building on some of the things we already do, like providing information via the Finding employment module and creating more apps to extend its work. 

All in all, there’s been a lot of activity to get to this point but the final outcome is a great one for my team and the wider charity. It could help us to push the employment rate for autistic people well beyond its current one of 29% and could potentially, with other organisations, be part of an effort to surpass the original highest estimate of 32%. In any case, we’ve got a map to lots of opportunities to do clever stuff and have fun along the way, so let’s go!

Leo Capella is a Job Coach at the National Autistic Society