Inclusive Change At Work C.I.C reposted this
Award winning purpose driven speaker, facilitator and consultancy. Passionate about making a difference | Neurodiversity | Community | Connections | Change Management | Inter-generational Diversity
Yesterday I delivered a face to face awareness session about careers for SEND and neurodivergent children to parents and carers at a specialist school in Bristol. I have been hosting and running training events for almost 8 years now particularly for parents and carers and there is often one message that I get from them is "We are SCARED". The overwhelming thought of jobs, life past education and what happens post 25? When our kids are at school we are literally fighting on a daily basis to get them in, to keep them in, to look after them when they are home, to keep them alive. Thinking about the world post 16 seems like a long way away when your child is 13 and you are coping day to day to just keep going. Then suddenly they are about to take GCSEs and you are going to have to make choices about what next at Post 16. It is a LOT. I feel it and I certainly felt it in the session yesterday. Whilst I am midst all this myself I know I am privileged and this is why I set up Inclusive Change and keep doing what we are doing to raise awareness and make change happen. There isn't enough information, there isn't enough hope, there isn't enough practical support and there still isn't enough buy in from employers and businesses who can benefit from a diverse workplace. One of the videos I often bring to a session is from Andrew Williams who set out with an idea at IBM to create a programme to recruit and retain autistic employees. https://lnkd.in/eWaevcsg With parents I show the beginning, just a couple of minutes, all about the candidates but there is much much more in this video and If you are an employer or a business owner, I would urge anyone who wants to find some inspiration about how we can actually open doors and create employment opportunities for autistic candidates to watch the whole video. Listen to Ingrid talk about her experiences, listen to Andrew share his reason why and the simple approach of "it's not hard, we just had to make a decision". And if you are an employer who wants to talk about making a difference - get in touch! I would love to help you do that. On 23rd October Inclusive Change At Work C.I.C will be hosting an online awareness event for parents. It will be recorded but you need to sign up to get the link to rewatch. This is open to all - regardless of where you live or what stage of education you are at - or even if you have left education already and stuck. The link for our free online sessions is here: https://lnkd.in/eSRQsEtS Elaine Brown Andy Jackson Andy Jarman Lou Temlett Daniel Biddle NRAC Consultant, ACIOB, FRSA, OAHRM, MREC Kristin Knowler Sarah Atkins - PCC Vicky Henderson Catrina Lowri Illyana Mullins Becca Burke Holly Smith Kristin Knowler Emily Chittell Cameron Dicker Carly Little Kate Brewer Rachel Trueman ✝️ Jennie Prewett Dan Harris FRSA Andrew Western Alexandra Chapel