North Wales MS and Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Autism Group, Mark Isherwood, has today highlighted in the Senedd cases of Autistic people refused employment due to their Autism and called for “practical, outcome-focused action” from the Welsh Government to address this.
During a question to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy in Wednesday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament on the promotion of fair work in North Wales, he said:
“The Welsh Government’s ‘guide to fair work’ provides as a practical example of what fair work could look like in a working environment: ‘Delivering inclusive opportunities to obtain work, to acquire and develop skills and learning, and to progress in work’.
“The last meeting of the Cross-Party Autism Group included ‘Access to Employment – perspectives of Autistic people’, with speakers from Denbighshire and Flintshire.
“As one told us, she is struggling to find a job. She is applying for entry level positions and getting declined almost immediately, which she feels is due to her Autism. She is also part of a wider social group in which her peers are facing similar problems. She told the meeting ‘that people have different operating systems but are equal’, and that she ‘did not need help changing her CV as the issue was the attitudes of employers towards her community’. After years of warm words, what practical, outcome-focused action will the Welsh Government now take to address this?”
Responding, the Minister for Social Partnership thanked Mr Isherwood for raising his concerns and told him she would “report back to him as we continue to do more work in this area”.
