JOBSEEKERS INQUIRY VICTORIA 2019 Submission From Aspergers Victoria Incorporated

Submission details at https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/eic-la/com-jcalpro-categories/inquiries/article/4182

How well current programs or activities meet the needs of disadvantaged jobseekers

Aspergers Victoria welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the committee on the effectiveness of jobseeker supports in Victoria.

Aspergers Victoria (AV) is a DGR registered not for profit organsiation that exists to create a community of Asperger individuals who promotes Aspergers as a neurological difference and not a disability. The limiting factor that Aspergers experience is the disabling attitude of the community and the negative perception and misunderstanding of Asperger characteristics and capabilities. Aspergers Victoria is mandated with the role of changing societies perception by empowering people with Aspergers to have an equal voice and valued position in society. Our organisation is driven by Asperger individuals and people with lived experience.

Aspergers Victoria has over 700 members with 8500 Facebook and a national social media reach of over 25,000 each week. Our website is accessed Australia wide and internationally. We have advised the Inquiry in Autism Services Vic and sit on the Autism Advisory Group (Vic).

It is estimated that there are approximately 30,000 people in Victoria with Aspergers. The unemployment rate for people with Autism Spectrum Conditions is 31.6%, over three-times the rate for people with disability (10.0%), almost six-times the rate of people without disability (5.3%) (ABS 2015).

Aspergers have a higher-than-average IQ, specialised knowledge, and often extraordinary creative talent and productivity. These attributes make them unique employment prospects for companies that engage in specialist industries, often with the need for innovative or highly technical skills including numerical, computing, data, research, design or the arts. They are the specialist minds in a world of generalist thinkers and provide a currently unappreciated competitive advantage to organisations in the future world of work.

For the past 30 years Aspergers Victoria has provided services to the Asperger (ASD Level 1) population in Victoria with particular focus on creating an inclusive and empowering community for all our Asperger members whatever the age or gender. However over the past 12 months,

LA EIC - Disadvantaged Jobseekers Inquiry Submission no. 71Received: 1 August 2019

Aspergers Victoria has ventured into the employment domain in response to the expressed need of its members and the rising issues of unemployment. Aspergers Victoria has listened to its members expressed concern about unemployment and underemployment experienced by many Asperger individuals and the lack of appropriate resources to address these issues. Many of our members have suffered extreme and debilitating psychological trauma because of their experiences in the job seeking and employment arenas.

Anna G commented at a recent AV meeting “I am never going back to a DES provider again because I was so traumatised after my last visits that it took days before I could function properly again”. Anna then went on to explain that the service provider didn’t understand her sensory or auditory challenges, or listen to what she required to be successful in a job and that she suggested that she apply for retail jobs in one of the big shopping shopping. She said that she was treated as if she was totally unskilled even though she had 2 degrees in Commerce and Business Management. This is a very common story experienced by the majority of our Aspie jobseekers and that is communicated regularly at AV’s meet-ups groups and at the weekly Jobseekers Drop-in-Centre.

Following the decision to enter the employment arena, Aspergers Victoria liaised with a wide range of funded employment agencies to identify issues, problems and gaps in the current jobseeker services and identify the problems which jeopardise the ongoing employment for Asperger/ASD 1 employees . On the basis of this information and discussion with our members at Aspergers Victoria, it was evident that a number of serious challenges faced Aspies in the job market. These challenges can be separated into the issues faced for Aspies jobseekers in gaining employment as well as in maintaining employment. CHALLENGES IN GAINING EMPLOYMENT In particular

• The lack of knowledge and understanding of Aspergers by a large number of generic and even specialist employment agencies

• The failure to grasp the implications of many of the Asperger social, sensory and neurological characteristics on adapting to change and maintaining employment.

• The focus on the challenges of the jobseeker at the exclusion of the strengths • The failure to provide appropriate level and type of on-the-job support for both the

employee and employer. • The lack of advocacy and support services available for Asperger employees who are

experiencing discrimination or bullying in the workplace. • That many of the govementment sponsored employment programs focused on early and

recent school leavers, under 24years of age and not university educated, but one of the loudest voices were those who were in there 20’s to late 30’s with university degrees who had never been able to secure employment and had developed mental health issues.

• Many of the respondents to our research were plder Asperger women trying to re-enter the workforce after many years at home and again had mental health issues because of social exclusion and misunderstanding and misdiagnosis by professionals

The loudest story which is told over and over from our members is that the primary problem is that the agencies which provide employment support do not understand the Asperger population. Whatever the Aspie’s age the story is the same. The repeating themes include:

1. Not understanding or misunderstanding the characteristics of Aspergers 2. Undervaluing the skills sets of the Aspie jobseeker or employee 3. Not realising the simple support needs that help them flourish and 4. Lack of appreciation for their intellectual capacity and high cognitive functioning: not seeing

past their differences or co-morbid anxiety the job seeking process exagerates The lack of training and high turnover of employment staff in government funded employment agencies is the other problem most frequently cited by our members and respondent. Generalised disability training is inadequate and actually damaging and disempowering for the Aspie jobseeker who has report that the services are frequently useless in providing realistic employment opportunities for them. Chrissy R story is typical for many Aspies. 5 months ago Chrissy came to Aspergers Victoria’s Jobseeker Drop-in-Centre and asked if we can provide an employment advocate to accompany her to one of her JobActive employment meetings as she was unable to convince her employment consultant that she was cognitively able to do work greater than shop assistant or processing work. Chrissy had noticed on her intake form that intellectual disability had been written in her notes. Chrissy presented with slower processing, had auditory issues and sensitivities and had left school after year 10 because of severe bullying by fellow students. She did not have an intellectual disability. Her IQ was 120. The employment consultant had dismissed Chrissy extraordinary creative talent and desire to follow a career in web design. During the meeting, the employment consultant stated that because Chrissy was Autistic she would not cope with tertiary study or with a career in that field. Needless to say, because of AV’s advocacy, Chrissy is now studying a Cert 3 in media and through AV’s work experience program is looking to do work experience in a Media firm to evaluate her skill set and requirements of her work environment. Based on the assessed and expressed need of its members and the Aspie population in general, Aspergers Victoria (AV) has now launched the World of Work which encompases the Jobseekers Drop-in-Centre, and On-the-Job employment counselling service for both Aspie employees and employers of Aspie workers. In addition Aspergers Victoria is now providing advocacy services to support Aspies to negotiate and educate their DES, Jobactive and JVEN service provider to create a more effective service appropriate to the needs of the specific Aspie jobseeker. In addition AV has worked with various employers and assisted them to formulate new ways of addressing the needs of their Aspie employees. In addition we have supported and educated existing specialist employment services through training and job coaching support. One of the major challenges faced by our members is the homogenisation of Asperger individuals under the current DSM5 classification into the broad category of Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is such a generalised classification which embraces a wide heterogenous group of individuals, capabilities, and challenges and clouds the accuracy of understanding of the level and types of supports that are required by an Asperger jobseeker. An Aspergers individual (ASD level 1) who is cognitively above average is very different to an ASD Level 3 Autistic who can be cognitively challenged with no independence. The community as a whole including government and employers needs to be educated in the benefits of employing Asperger individuals and lean in to the value diversity and the strengths of atypical thinkers can bring to an organisation. The biggest problem is that lack of understanding of many of the current jobseeker agencies, the type and level of supports available and employers attitude and understanding fails to address the specific challenges and strengths of Aspergers and consequently treat Aspie jobseekers and employees as disabled.

This is a missed opportunity for our economy as recent research by Curtin University WA has proven that with minor work adjustments and appropriate education and support, Aspergers and Autistics make contributions beyond average employees including

• higher productivity • high attention to detail • strong work ethic • high quality work

This is evidenced by one new Aspie employee in DWELF being promoted to another role and being replaced by 2 new workers. It is well documented that Aspergers jobseekers encounter significant barriers to entering the mainstream workforce. The specific challengesinclude:

• Systemic barriers to employment such as the application and interview processes which highlight the differences, not strengths and capabilities .

• the social skills required for interviews and work relationships which means they behave in ways different to what others expect with resulting misunderstanding and rejection- and assumptions that they are incapable/disabled

Jobs Victoria recently recognised and attempted to address this issue when they were recruiting for one of their cadetship positions at DET. The Jobs Victoria representative created a specialised application and interview process to suit the Asperger applicants and they recruited very successfully. Without support that understands that individual and empowers them, these challenges make standard job search processes untenable, particularly those that are based online. Hence, much Aspergers employment talent goes unidentified and under-utilised in our economy. This unrealised potential to enhance and contribute to business is ignored and the individual remains unemployed and in the ‘too hard basket’ frequently being shunted to the DSP or in roles that bypass their IQ or short term roles that fill quotas. This creates serious mental health implications. Unemployment and underemployment is a key issue for people with Aspergers. These are only a few of the stories that have been shared with Asperger Victoria regarding their experiences of accessing employment services in Victoria. Aspergers Victoria members would be very happy to provide additional personal experiences at the Inquiry.

Cathy S was recorded as having an intellectual disability even though her IQ was 120 because she was extremely anxious in the interview situation because of past bad experiences and her processing speed was a little slower particularly when she was very stressed. The only jobs she was offered or supported to apply for were processing jobs and the final straw was the employment service suggested that she apply for Waverley Industries a supported employment service for people who physically and cognitively challenged. Anna P, who had experiences anxiety disorder for which she was recently hospitalised had disclosed to the employment service that she experienced severe noise and light sensitivities and was then offered positions at the local swimming pool, and in shop assistant work in large crowded shopping centres. Mark H who has had multiple unsuccessful jobs in retail and who is very literal and has difficulty recognising non verbal social cues and a very slow processing speed

was constantly pressured into applying for front of house work or bar work in very busy hotels and restaurants George A 39 years of age, who has 2 engineering degrees but who has limited social and interpersonal skills has now been to 5 DES providers because of the constantly changing personell has now applied for over 200 jobs in conjuction with his various DSP service providers has been only able to secure car cleaning employment and was recently unsuccessful in his application for chemist delivery person. George has lost hope in finding a job that can match his skill set.

Many of our members have commented that they have undertaken pre-employment, job application and interview training through their employment services but that this training and support was ineffectual and inappropriate as it was not tailored to suit the particular challenges and requirements of Asperger jobseekers, such as the inability to read between the lines with regard to interview questions, inability to understand verbal and non-verbal cues, difficulty with eye contact, mindblindness and failure to read contextual cues.

“I struggle to socially interact with people but have been given no support by my employment consultant to learn these skills in order to improve my chances of gaining employment” (T Thomas).

Aspergers Victoria has recently developed and trialed the ‘Social Skills Toolkit’ program which is based on the evidence based Peers UCLA model to provide communication and social skills training for Teens and Adults so that they can understand and learn communication and social skills which will assist them to navigate both their social and work worlds. In addition in our Jobseekers Drop-in-Centre we are implementing work readiness training to prepare Aspie individuals to understand the requirements of the work of work and the perspectives of their prospective employer. The job readiness training resulted from the many Aspies who have presented to the meet-up groups and Drop-in-Centre who have never been employed and have lived very isolated lives. They have no understanding of the expectations of a work environment. This deficit was also evidenced through our interactions with employees who were in precarious employment situations and who approached Aspergers Victoria for support.

LACK OF SUITABLE AND EFFECTIVE ON-THE-JOB SUPPORT It became clearly evident through our membership that the second most important aspect of employment that was not adequately addressed by both the general and specialist employment service providers was on the type and amount of on-the- job support provided to the Aspie employee. Through our joint work with other employment programs in providing employment coaching to Aspie employees, it became very evident that assisting Aspie employees to maintain thier job was equally vital as assisting the jobseeker to find employment. . More recently Aspergers Victoria’s World of Work has been delivering on-the-job employment coaching and support for Aspergers employees and staff in a range of employment settings including Medibank, the Rise program at DHHS, DWELP, DET, Linfox, Infosys and Our Watch.

The main focus of this support is really to educate the employer, managers and co-workers about Aspergers in the workplace and also to ensure that the Aspie employee has appropriate understanding of the job requirements and the social and work expectations of a business environment. This is a process which most agencies don’t particularly do well unless they are really experienced in working with Aspies. In particular most employment agencies or job coaches don’t comprehend the critical impact that sensory sensitivities can have on an Aspies ability to maintain their employment.

Letty G has been employed by a information and technology company for 8 months. She contacted AV’s WOW On-the-Job Coaching service because she was struggling to get to work before noon each day. Letty experiences very severe noise sensitivity and was exhausted by the loud noise of the air-conditioner, the constant chatter of the open plan work environment. Her desk was situated near the kitchen area where everyone congregated. She had asked her manager to shift he desk but was told that there was not other space. She used noise cancelling head phones to try to block out the noise but these only muffled the cacophony of sound around her. Her anxiety had reached extreme levels and her doctor had prescribed a higher dose of medication which made her feel rally drowsy during the day. Letty was become very depressed about her work situation and was thinking that she would have to resign. Two sessions with her manager who was willing to move Letty and to discuss ways that she could work from home for some of her work week assisted Letty to be able to cope with the office noise on the days she would be at the office.

Paul K is newly employed worker in a large company who are beginning to feel that Paul’ productivity in the office is not work the high levels of time and resources that his manager and buddy are investing in him. Paul on-the-job support had been completed by his employment agency but Paul was still not performing to the company’s expectations. Aspegers Victoria were called in to identify what the problem could be and provide solutions. It was clearly evident after talks with Paul that he had auditory processing issues, was very literal and did not understand verbal or non-verbal social cues. Paul’s employer felt that he had provided clear work instructions to Paul but on examination he was not clear or precise enough. When I commented on this the employer said that he felt he was being rude to Paul, but Paul stated to the employer that I he would much prefer for the employer to be straight and blunt than Paul feeling confused and wrong all the time. It is really important for the employer to really understand the perspective of the Aspie and learn to speak Aspie while the Aspie is assisted to learn to speak Non Aspie.

From the multitude of stories just like the two above what Aspergers Victoria has learned is that if employment coaches are to successfully place Aspies into appropriate ongoing successful employment they need to learn to speak Aspie in order to understand the Aspie’s needs and to be able to teach the employer to effectively understand and communicate with their Aspie employee. One employer stated to Aspergers Victoria that since she ‘had learned to speak Aspie and understand the needs of her Aspie employee she had become a much better manager not just for the Aspie but for all her staff. Aspergers Victoria WOW program is currently developing a Coach Training program to teach employment coaches how to successfully coach Aspies in finding and keeping employment.

Again Aspergers Victoria is very happy to share more of their members stories about the paucity of and the critical need for Aspie savvy employment coaches.

WHAT AV CAN DO Advocacy: Aspergers Victoria prides themselves on being interpreters in supporting Aspergers individuals to negotiate and manage the wider world - a go between for them and the system that frequently fails to understand Aspergers. AV’s understanding is derived from lived experience which is an imperative prerequisite for learning to speak Aspie and then being able to translate Asperger needs and requirements to a system that really fails to comprehend the intricacies and differences.

The State Disability Plan sets out our priorities and actions for achieving inclusion under four key pillars – however we are not seeing this for hidden differences which then become disabilities through mental health issues:

• inclusive communities • health, housing and wellbeing • fairness and safety • contributing lives

There has been mention of a State Autism Plan coming soon however we are concerned this will again homogenise Autism needs and not specifically address the needs of our capable Asperger community. Aspergers Victoria is on the Autism Advisory Group for the State government and will actively and loudly promote the cause of Asperger individuals. It is imperative that Aspergers Victoria be consulted with regard to understanding Aspergers and developing programs and training as we are the only organisation that is specifically dedicated to understanding and representing Asperger individuals. We are an organisation that is for Aspergers and by Aspergers.

At AV we have prioritised developing the best employment supports for Aspergers. We currently offer

programs proven to help employment outcomes including: • Specialised pre-employment support including enhancing social communication,

understanding the requirements of the world of work and personal skill development.

• On-the-job employment coaching for Aspie employees and their employers

• Employment coach training for job support services.

• Employer training and coaching of managers and the rest of that team

• Jobseekers drop-in -entre where Aspergers can come when they are facing employment issues

• HR advice to businesses and government departments to ensure inclusive practices for our community

• Programs and workshops with particular emphasis on support Aspergers with managing social and work situations (Social Skills Toolkit based on the PEERS UCLA program), emotional understanding (PEM) and self regulation.

Aspergers Victoria is a volunteer run organisation with limited resources. We are committed to enhancing the employment opportunities of Asperger community and have developed a range of successful programs which will definately increase the number of Aspie successfully and

appropriately employed in regular employment. We would like to see our programs or other such successful program become broadly available to all Aspie jobseekers and employees as well as to the employers and employment agencies

Extract from our JOBACTIVE INQUIRY SUBMISSION 2018: “In our Survey of our Aspergers community about jobactive in September 2018, respondents commented:

• 37.5% jobactive did not meet their needs in an employment service. No-one actually said it met their needs;

• 67.8% said that jobactive did not consult them or understand their needs . One comment was: ”They asked but didn't understand why I was asking for support when I had a great resume and English language skills. They said they couldn't help me.”

• 75% who used jobactive replied their employment did not last more than 12 months • 39/50 self rating overall for those completing their jobactive requirements • 68.75% who completed the survey did not find the jobactive process fair • Which if any activities helped you gain employment? had the following results:

The Work for the Dole requirements in particular create inordinate psychological issues, stress and anxiety for a Asperger job seeker for many reasons: amount of change and unpredictability of the placements, the high social demands, the failure to consider the individual’s sensory sensitivities, negative interactions with supervisors due to misunderstanding of Asperger characteristics and the trave requirements. The 25 hour requirement of the Work for the Dole exponentially amplifies the level of stress and anxiety experienced by the Asperger job seeker due to the social, communication and sensory overload of the random placements. A large percentage of the unemployed Asperger population already have valuable tertiary qualifications so further academic qualifications and training is not only inappropriate but extremely costly and unaffordable for them. For this group, the issue is not the lack of appropriate qualifications but that the employment consultant and employers do not utilize the job seekers particular educational background. The employment consultants are ignorant of the advantage an Asperger worker can bring to the employer if they were able to create a suitable work environment that is conducive to the particular Asperger individual. . For those Aspergers who don’t have suitable qualifications, it is the education system which has let them down and traumatised the them. so requiring those Asperger job seekers to return to an institution is not only anxiety producing and oppressive, but system which does not provide education and training in a

manner which understands and accommodates the particularities of facilitates the Aspergers learning style.

Many Aspergers actually don’t know how to appeal or navigate the government system. When they actually do attempt to do this, their interactions are not particularly positive or have a negative outcome due to ignorance of the needs of the Asperger. Our survey supports this contention - majority did not even know of it or if they could use it::

J. alternative approaches to addressing joblessness; Our suggestions for this include:

1. Vern from our membership suggests: based on the Commonwealth Disability Employment Services Youth Mental Health Trial in 2015/16 for young people aged between 18 and 24 years who were living with a mental illness, an alternative approach would be to allocate to individuals with Aspergers an individual support package for employment support to help them transition to work. This successful trial provided an individualised support package of $5,000 that could be used to purchase goods and services including the services of :

a. a job seeking coach b. counselling c. an agent to advise a potential employer on impacts of disability and employability, d. training e. transport f. work experience and g. clothing and equipment

In the trial, this allocation was payable to agencies to manage, but today individual support packages like this should be available to participants and their families to manage directly - similar to the NDIS approaches, cutting out the costly middle men. Aspergers Victoria was not consulted about this Trial.

2. Individual Funding for Job seeking, transition and retention via coach-mentors to assist Aspergers with: a. finding the right job b. supporting transition to the employment including recruitment, c. liaison with the employer to educate the employer and staff about best ways to support the Asperger/neurodiverse person d. these coaches will need training in managing Aspergers and neurodiverse needs and have a certain level of understanding or lived experience

Such up front costs will lead to a better career pathway in the longer term for the Asperger, leading to more likely success, more employment and potentially less mental health issues resulting from unemployment.

3. An employment grants program for specialist organisations representing neurodiverse people in employment such as Aspergers Victoria, to apply for funding that will allow us to provide a range of employment based services directly including:

Our World of Work work experience program for Aspergers students which we have developed and require funding to progress further. Our research shows this will deliver work readiness skills in the most effective approach: preparing both the Asperger as well as the employer and requiring less job matching services by independent parties: The World of Work program will provide:

a. A job matching service for people with Aspergers and employers. b. Communication skills building for pre-work students and jobactive applicants: On the Jobactive website front page it highlights that “Employers want good communication skills” so Aspergers need to be given supports to build these skills earlier. Our program includes this by building it prior and on the job. c. Train more employers to understand Aspergers. This will evolve as more employers realise their productivity etc by having Aspergers staff with right supports d. Coaching and mentoring to support Aspergers to gain and maintain work. We have specialists already providing this service but need funding to expand our success. e. This will all result in self advocacy and awareness of neurodiverse contribution through actual delivery of outcomes, abilities and contribution

2. Work preparation and transition supports : This needs to start earlier for Aspergers. Early intervention for employability skills should get priority funding if you wish to reduce reliance on government supports later in their career process. Without such intervention jobactive supports will not succeed. Preparation for work for Aspergers needs to to begin as early as late primary school. If education was made more relevant for the current job market and include communication and social skills supports, enterprise building focus with a work readiness focus for Aspergers earlier in the current education and the DET support systems. Our World of work-work experience program can deliver this work readiness in school if given even minimal funding.

5. Improvement in career guidance/readiness of students is a key priority in line with the recommendations in the report from the Inquiry into Career Advice Activities in Victorian Schools (22/8/2018) - with the added requirement that the training of Career Guidance teachers includes how to guide neurodiverse students including Aspergers. To be able to make the most of services, such as jobactive, students needs a better self awareness and readiness for the employment world. Our World of Work program is designed to provide this through our trained coaches. 6. Circle of Support: Our member Vern suggested we have, a funded circle of support around each Aspergers to assist the individual to gain/ maintain employment. This Circle of Support should typically be constituted by key people in the individual’s life comprising family, friends, neighbours, community groups, with some basic training empowering the Asperger towards employment. The Circle meet regularly (eg monthly) as a base commitment and as a control/accountability mechanism, payment of the Circle support package could be made conditional upon establishment of a Circle and their basic training. Ths would be a cost effective support approach which Aspergers Victoria could be funded. 7. Training of government jobactive staff in how to support Aspergers or a system that refers them to specialist organisations such as AV for support once it is beyond that agency. These approaches would specifically acknowledge the unique talent contribution they can make when empowered to use their IQ, skills and expertise and the issues faced by Aspergers, whilst simultaneously recognising. Aspergers will be then less reliant on generalist government services such as jobactive and can more directly guide their careers/ employment with more targeted funding allocation with improved employment results. Specific comments from members and our community to our Survey and direct feedback about Jobactive: from an Aspergers Victoria member, Margaret: “I'm not sure what is meant by "jobactive" but I thought it might be useful to let you know my son's experiences in looking for a job. After he completed his studies (Advanced Diploma of Games Development (Programming)) and Diploma of Business Management he went to Centrelink to become an active job seeker. Their response initially was less

than helpful, telling us to come in on about 3 occasions only to send us away again to get more information. I then approached 'The Bridge', a disability job provider in Dandenong, and initially we received a lot of help, including them booking him into Centrelink for an assessment of his ability to work. This all seemed positive and his fortnightly tasks were not as onerous as the standard requirements. We then embarked on a fortnightly face to face meeting to hand in paperwork and talk about where to go to next. For the next ten months or so we had very mixed experiences, from people willing to help to virtual bullying. During this time he applied for many jobs in the IT world, with very little feedback. Some of the people at the Bridge promised to follow up a couple of jobs, even ones outside his field, but this never happened. Our overall experience was that management staff were dedicated people, passionate about helping people with disabilities into the workforce, but that the employees we were seeing were a mixed bunch who didn't stay long in the job. We have been fortunate, but I hate to think where he would be now if this hadn't have come up, because the job provider was not effective at all.”

k. any other related matters Improving the employment rates of people with Aspergers has been shown to provide great benefits to the individuals and to the government. Benefits we outlined previously IN SUBMISSIONS to Jobs Victoria include:

• Aspergers ability to earn their own livelihood • Reduce reliance on welfare and increased economic contribution such as taxes • Increase self-esteem • Decrease risk of mental health issues and reliance on medical supports • Sense of purpose, fulfilment and value • Increase social inclusion and community participation • Contribution to the knowledge economy of their intellect and ideas as well as innovation

Here is one model used previously to show the benefits of employment of autistics created by PWC:

The needs of neurodiverse people including people with Aspergers should be specifically considered in the redesign of jobactive and other Australian Government programs. Our Aspergers needs are unique and need either a specialist sub program within jobactive or ideally a dedicated ongoing national program established and funded to support these unique and valuable people and allow them the opportunity of self fulfilment and to contribute. Research has shown that there are many benefits to people with Aspergers and to the community of meaningful employment. These include self- esteem, financial independence , and lower incidence of mental health problems and of course economic benefits to the state in increased taxation revenue and reduced welfare costs (see diagram above). Employment is the most important way that neuro-diverse people can be included in Australian society and so given the opportunity to using their unique strengths to make meaningful contributions, rather than subsisting on welfare. Aspergers Victoria would also welcome the opportunity to attend a public hearing and request we are involved in consultations about future employment support initiatives. Sincerely, Tamsin Jowett, President, Aspergers Victoria Inc.

Bibliography: 1) Employment and adults with autism spectrum disorders: Challenges and strategies for success : Dawn Hendricks Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 32 (2010) 125–134 DOI:10.3233/JVR-2010-0502IOS Press 2) http://www.diversityjournal.com/9929-is-it-time-for-aspergers-in-the-workplace/ 3) Neurodiversity is a Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business Review, May-June 2017

https://hbr.org/2017/05/neurodiversity-as-a-competitive-advantage 4) Aspergers Workers Loyal, Talented……..Ignored, The Guardian 2012 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/apr/06/autistic-workers-employers-ignorance 5) The benefits of recruiting employees with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Holland, R, Harvard Business Review cited in Forbes, 2018

APPENDICES: 1. AND final submission Jan 4th 2017 2. SVA NSW Government employment enablement strategy 2016 3. Aust Human Rights Commision : Willing to Work Inquiry Report 2016 4. VICTORIA INQUIRY INTO AUTISM SERVICES EMPLOYMENT FINDINGS: (Report located

here: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/FCDC_Report_into_Services_for_people_with_Autism_Spectrum_Disorder_Z5KhPNcW.pdf)

(a) Knowledge and skills The Inquiry heard there is a lack of confidence and knowledge among employers about employing and working with people with disability.110 The Inquiry commonly heard about the lack of training for managers in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Many people reported that their managers had little or no understanding of disability or experience in supporting exible working arrangements. Another common theme was the lack of awareness and support to implement workplace adjustments for employees who have a disability. The Inquiry met with many employers who understand the importance of accessing a diverse talent pool and the value of employing people with disability. However, some employers lack understanding about disability and how to work with people with disability. In some cases the Inquiry was told that managers were ‘scared’ to ask questions that they considered ‘private’ and could lead to perceptions that they were discriminating against their employees. When asked about barriers to employment of people with disability, the Inquiry was told:

The majority of employers we are in contact with are crying out for assistance and help because they want to do the right thing.111

Australian employers are simply not aware enough — or convinced enough — of the business bene ts of employing people with disability.112

Some employers do not feel con dent and are afraid of doing ‘the wrong thing’.113 A recent survey conducted by the Business Council of Australia found that: Concerns about seeming discriminatory, invading privacy, how to ask and lack of internal know-how were the top difficulties nominated by companies in seeking to identify the disability status of applicants or employees.114 Willing to Work National Inquiry • 187

Chapter 4: Employment discrimination against Australians with disability

188 The Inquiry heard that lack of understanding about disability in workplaces can perpetuate negative assumptions and attitudes towards employees with disability. The lack of information and training for employees on disability awareness leads to negative perceptions of people with disability in the workplace. As there are relatively low numbers of people with disability employed in the workforce, their lack of visibility only serves to reinforce the perception that they are not effective in the workforce.115 According to Australian Human Resources Institute research on employer perspectives on recruiting people with disability, many employers have low levels of awareness, understanding and expectations of employing people with disability.116 Some employers identified working with people with mental illness as potentially more challenging. I think that while you do have employers who have experienced mental illness, not everyone is geared up for having those difficult conversations.117 Another barrier cited is employers’ limited knowledge and capacity to interpret relevant laws and obligations to employees with disability. The Inquiry was told that employers face difficulties in getting ‘training and advice in an open and confidential manner’,118 and that they need clear guidance on the operation of relevant laws.119 It is incredibly difficult for an employer to ‘know what compliance looks like’.120 The current limited and ad hoc materials as to how to manage this specific issue [employment of people with disability] are sparse and provide employers little comfort that they are doing the ‘right’ thing by the individual whilst not placing others at risk.121 Even though a range of industry initiatives and government incentives, subsidies and supports are available to assist organisations with employing and retaining a person with disability, many employers were not aware of them. People don’t know about [JobAccess]. Employers and employees should be better informed of what is available.122 [The] Jobs in Jeopardy program coordinated by JobAccess...is one of the most underutilised programs. It needs the employer to ask for help for the person to retain their role.123 The information about what is available isn’t that accessible. She [employee] knew what she was entitled to and how to get it, but without her knowing that I don’t know how we would have navigated that process...it needs to be easier.124 Many employers are simply unaware that Disability Employment Services exist and as a result these services are underutilised — only 3% of employers use DES when recruiting.125 A key recurring barrier raised by employers and employees with disability related to problems arising at the line-manager level. The Inquiry heard that managers sometimes lacked the skills to manage people with disability, implement workplace adjustments and suitable work arrangements or consider job re- design. Employers are community members and so one should not be surprised that employers reject the prevailing negative attitudes of the general community towards people with a disability.126 If employers have had a bad experience, especially in SMEs [small to medium enterprises], it is easier just to say ‘no’.127