Last week I travelled up to Northampton to visit Thomas Cliffe, director of TRACK NN Northampton, a company working to help autistic individuals access employment.
Thomas has a natural talent for inspiring those on the spectrum to gain valuable working skills and experience - offering work placements in his Northampton market square cafe for those looking to break into the world of work.
"We (Cafe Track) opened formally in January 2019 with a few key aims" he explained.
"One was that people from any background could come in a be themselves but also to allow people to come in and develop their employability skills in a really supportive environment"
Aside from this, Thomas also works with many local businesses to increase employer and workplace understanding of the condition, notably looking into the various hiring methods and workplace traits that can be quite restricting for someone with autism.
Speaking on his workplace training, Thomas said: "I think in terms of requirements, the simplest is a willingness to learn.
"For me, it's a willingness from the employer to treat someone as an individual, that's the absolute core and from that you can then work from everything else because that willingness then indicates they will make small changes".
"I wouldn't want to be a business that doesn't engage now because they're going to get left behind and you can see some of the biggest companies in the world are taking the lead on this and quite rightly getting the acclaim."
You can hear more from Thomas in the clip below.
More to follow.
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