The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, in a joint project with The National Autistic Society Northern Ireland (NAS), the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) and Employers for Disability NI (EFDNI), has produced “Employing people with autism: a brief guide for employers”. The guide looks to help raise awareness of autism among employers and outline the benefits of employing someone with autism; to provide information about autism to employers, including their duties to people with autism under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the support programmes available to employers and people with autism and to signpost employers to further information and advice on autism.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. Bob Collins, the Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland believes that “the publication will benefit both employers and employees across Northern Ireland and will hopefully lead to increased employment for people with autism in many workplaces.”