The Workplace Inclusion and employmeNt opportunities for youth WITH aUtism (WIN-WITH-U) project aimed to improve the inclusion of autistic people in the work world, by providing training to employers and firms and supporting autistic people in their journey toward employment. Running for three years from September 2020 to August 2023, this project was funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme.
Autistic people have many traits and abilities that make them competitive candidates for jobs in the work world. Unfortunately, employers are not always aware of autistic people’s strengths or how to leverage their skills and potential in an employment context. Given this, the WIN-WITH-U project developed an innovative and open training approach, including two learning paths, one focusing primarily on autistic people and the other on entrepreneurs/managers who want to improve their knowledge about autism.
The project worked to break entry barriers to the work world for autistic people, raise awareness about autism and improve autistic people’s employment options. Project partners researched and produced a Learning Methodology document to improve the inclusion of young autistic people along with a set of learning modules which are freely available on a e-learning platform. Besides, a training package was created and delivered in five languages of the project consortium including English, Bulgarian, Italian, Danish and French.
A multi-sectoral team of five partners was created for this project. The project coordinator and private university, LUISS Guido Carli University (Italy) collaborated with the European Center for Quality – ECQ (Bulgaria), the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome (Italy), and two non-profit organisations, including Specialisterne Foundation (Denmark) and Autism-Europe (Belgium).
About the Erasmus+ Programme
Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Its budget of €14.7 billion will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain experience, and volunteer abroad.