Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), Department of Psychology and Human Development, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK.
School of Education, Language & Psychology, York St John University, UK.
Autism. 2024 Aug;28(8):1934-1946. doi: 10.1177/13623613231214834. Epub 2023 Nov 28.
Internships designed for autistic people can help them to find employment, but there is little research about the experiences of those involved with internship schemes. To learn more about a new paid internship scheme in the United Kingdom, the Employ Autism network, we interviewed 19 interns, who were autistic young adults without intellectual disability taking part in one of eight different internships. We also interviewed 22 employers (who worked with the interns), and 10 parents (who supported their children in the internship). The interns, employers and parents told us that the Employ Autism network was a valuable experience that helped the interns become more confident. Also, the parents said it helped the interns become more independent. All the groups said the Employ Autism network removed common barriers to employment, and interns and parents said it would help interns get a job in future. Employers and interns said they understood each other better during the internship, and employers said the internship made them think about how their organisations might have accidentally had barriers in place that could stop autistic people getting employed (barriers that they wanted to address in future). However, all groups said some expectations of the internship were not met. These findings suggest the Employ Autism network is helpful for autistic young adults without intellectual disability and employers, but that there are ways that the internships could be improved in future. We discuss the lessons we can learn from the Employ Autism network that might help others who are thinking about setting up, or getting involved in, similar internship schemes.
专为自闭症患者设计的实习可以帮助他们找到工作，但对于参与实习计划的人的经验，研究甚少。为了更多地了解英国新的带薪实习计划——自闭症就业网络，我们采访了 19 名自闭症青年，他们没有智力残疾，参加了 8 个不同实习中的一个。我们还采访了 22 名雇主（与实习生一起工作）和 10 名家长（支持孩子参加实习）。实习生、雇主和家长告诉我们，自闭症就业网络是一次宝贵的经历，帮助实习生变得更加自信。此外，家长们表示，这有助于实习生变得更加独立。所有群体都表示，自闭症就业网络消除了就业的常见障碍，实习生和家长表示，这将有助于实习生未来找到工作。雇主和实习生表示，他们在实习期间更好地了解了彼此，雇主还表示，实习让他们思考他们的组织可能无意中设置了哪些阻碍自闭症患者就业的障碍（他们希望在未来解决这些障碍）。然而，所有群体都表示，实习的一些期望没有得到满足。这些发现表明，自闭症就业网络对没有智力残疾的自闭症青年和雇主是有帮助的，但未来可以改进实习方式。我们讨论了可以从自闭症就业网络中吸取的经验教训，这些经验教训可能有助于那些正在考虑设立或参与类似实习计划的人。
