Debate: Autism and inclusive employment
Date: THURSDAY, 10 JUNE 2021
Speaker: Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Kate is an eight—year—old child with middle hard autistic spectrum disorder. Kate’s mother is a hairdresser from a very small Slovak village, and she is a single mother. When Kate was two and a half, she was diagnosed with autism by a paediatrician. ‘So what do I do now?’ her mother asked. ‘So now you have to find a therapist’ the doctor said. ‘Where?’ – ‘Well, that I cannot tell you. There are none available in our district’.  As Kate’s mother was looking for help among doctors, one of them advised her ‘you know, in this country it is better to place autistic children in an orphanage’. The closest therapist was 90 kilometres away from Kate. There was no pre—school facility in their district that would accept autistic Kate. A retired neighbour took care of Kate while her mother was working, so the family was very low on money. The income hardly covered the rent and the babysitting.  When the therapist finally called after a year on a waiting list, Anna had to refuse the therapies because she did not have money for that. So now Kate is in a special school. Her mother has to drive her 40 kilometres every single day, and Kate does not thrive. She actually struggles. She struggles at school and she struggles at home and she will struggle for the rest of her life.  This is the sad result of unavailable therapies and early childhood intervention services. Sadly, this is a very common picture of the situation of a family with autistic children in many Member States. Autism is a very complex, lifelong disability. Each affected person experiences it differently. An estimated five million people in Europe are on the autism spectrum, facing a high level of discrimination in their daily lives. People on the autism spectrum, even those considered to be high—functioning, have poor employment outcomes. It is unacceptable that the estimated employment rates for people with autism in Europe is less than 10%, far below the employment rate of persons with disabilities. They are highly exposed to the risk of poverty and social exclusion. So we need to act now. We need to ensure that people on the autism spectrum have quality and inclusive employment with equal pay as for persons without disabilities. It is their right.  Therefore, I ask the Commission what it intends to do to improve the prospects for personal development and the employment outcomes of autistic people, specifically with regard to protection and the legal frameworks covering social security, working conditions, minimum wages and non—discrimination in institutions. What concrete measures does the Commission propose in order to take into account the quality of life, diversity of the situation and the needs of persons on the autism spectrum and the effects of the pandemic and of the intersection or discrimination they face in their daily lives?  Reasonable accommodation is key both in education and training as well as in employment. We need modified recruitment procedures. We need autism awareness training for employers and co—workers. This is absolutely essential. However, the lack of disaggregated data is a barrier to developing and evaluating effective policies and improving their situation. Until 2015, no data on autism was collected at EU level. Eurostat has still no data on autism. How concretely will the Commission improve and ensure the collection and monitoring of quality disaggregated data of the employment situation of autistic people, including those with co—occurring conditions, other disabilities and in institutions and sheltered settings ?  All persons on the autism spectrum have equal rights in all fields of life, and they are entitled to rights to dignity, equal treatment, independent living, autonomy and full participation in our societies, respecting and valuing their input to the social and economic progress in the EU. However, regrettably, there are still many obstacles to overcome in order to make this a reality. It is absolutely high time to act now.