An innovative new project to encourage businesses to employ people with autism and other disabilities is set to be launched.
Charity Triple A, which is leading the scheme, revealed its plans at a major conference in Carlisle.
Triple A, based in Penrith, said 84 per cent of people with autism are not in paid work. However, many would work with the right support from employers.
Karen Quinn, chair of Triple A, told the conference that Triple A would be launching a programme in Cumbria in the next few weeks to engage with employers.
The programme, which is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, plans to work with at least 17 local companies and find work for 44 unemployed disabled people over the next three years.
Triple A was supported by a visit to Cumbria by Bill Morris founder of Blue Star Recyclers who was the main speaker at the event.
Blue Star is a social enterprise dedicated to ethical electronic recycling by employing people with disabilities.
He started the company to provide what he calls “the 100 per cent solution” for two distinct issues: only 20 per cent of unwanted electronics are recycled every year and 80 per cent of people with disabilities are unemployed.
Bill noticed that people with differing abilities thrive in work environments that are highly tactile and rely on repetition, the exact work needed to dismantle electronics for recycling.
Bill spoke passionately about his success with finding solutions for both finding employment for disabled people and find new employees for disabled people at the conference.
Other speakers at the conference, held at the People First Centre and funded by the US Embassy and the Dakota Foundation, a US charity funder, included Claire Hensman, Lord Lieutenant Cumbria; Christina Tribble, Cultural Attaché, US Embassy; James Emmett, Founder & CEO of James Emmett and Company; Paul Foster, Development Manager for The Federation of Small Businesses; John Maddison, Programme Director for the Innovation Solutions Hub in Cumbria; Suzanne Caldwell, Managing Director for Cumbria Chamber of Commerce; Dr Laurie Sperry, Director of Autism Services and Programs in Arvada, Colorado; Peter Watt, Managing Director of National Programmes, NAS and Randy Lewis, Founder of the NOGWOG (No Greatness Without Goodness) Disability Initiative, USA.
