World Autism Awareness Week is an awareness event celebrated every year and this year it falls on the 30th March - 5th April. It’s a chance for everyone to get involved and help raise awareness of autism and get together to support each other. The aim is to help anyone affected by autism to have the best quality of life possible.
“Autism is a complex, lifelong developmental disability that affects essential human behaviors such as social interaction, the ability to communicate ideas and feelings, imagination, self-regulation, and the ability to establish relationships with others.”
This year for World Autism Awareness Week we want to help raise the awareness of autism and employment. We spoke with a charity called Project Search to learn more about how they are helping individuals with autism get into employment. Project Search is a global charity that prepares young people with significant disabilities for success in integrated, competitive employment globally.
IMAGE: A group of people sitting around a table working
Worryingly we found out that 85% of autistic adults with a college education are unemployed, and this is something that Project Search and Estendio both feel passionate about making a difference in, and also helping to educate employers on how to help #CelebrateDifferences.
Are accessible and inclusive interviews a thing?
One of the key factors in securing employment is being able to successfully present yourself in an interview. Interview questions can be challenging with many people seeking tips for interview anxiety to support them through this stressful process. Something that was very apparent to us both was the lack of inclusivity and accessibility in the interview process.
How could Present Pal help?
We collaborated with Liam Dodds from the Project Search City of Edinburgh Council branch on this concept, he suggested the idea of using the Present Pal software to support the Project Search interns with their interview preparation.
Present Pal is an assistive technology tool currently being used to support students with SpLDs and disabilities in education with presentation anxiety. The software works like a set of interactive flashcards with expertly designed features such as linear focus scroll which magnifies the text as you scroll, colour overlays which reduce visual stress and the safety net function which allows the user to add images/additional text to a bullet point in the flashcard.
GIF: Scrolling through Present Pal features on a smartphone
Being able to use Present Pal for a different function was a really exciting idea for us all! The project in Edinburgh involved an experiment to measure the impact Present Pal could have on employability skills, and the results from this project were outstanding.
The Test
IMAGE: Macbook laptop, two pens, sticky notes and a smartphone on a table
After testing a mix of contextual cues to see if they had any effect on memorising numbers, the group were then challenged to retain information that would help them with interview skills. From this the students read their interview responses and tried to recite them from memory in a mock interview setting.
The students with the least challenges were asked to recite their answers for the mock interview with no additional support. The students who struggled the most with memory challenges were given an iPad, headphones, and the Present Pal app to prepare for the mock interview.
The Preparation
Focusing on two students: Student 1 with the least challenges with memory was asked to prepare without any additional support (software), and Student 2 (Allie, 24) who struggles the most with memory challenges and was equipped with an iPad, headphones, and the Present Pal app.
After Allie personalised the app to her own preferences (colour overlay, font type and size) which alleviated the effect of visual stress and difficulties with reading, she prepared an answer to ‘explain a time when they worked in a team’ following the S-T-A-R method.
IMAGE: Interview STAR method: Situation, Task, Action and Result
Using the audio cue functions of Present Pal, Allie could hear her notes in real time as she typed them into the application. She also used the safety net function to add additional information to help with her memory. She then created a new interactive flashcard with the same interview question and this time used images to create links between the situation, task, action, and results to help her retain the information.
Allie was therefore able to hook her responses to physical typing, verbal feedback, and visual images to help provide contextual cues to help increase the retrieval strength of the information.
Both students recorded themselves answering this question and the results were very interesting.
The Results
IMAGE: Lots of puzzle pieces
Student 1 with the least challenges with memory was able to recall his response but it took considerable effort to do so. The student would require much more time to be able to learn his answer before he could confidently recall his response where his natural behaviours would be demonstrated.
Student 2 (Allie) who struggled the most with memory challenges was able to confidently recall her response which allowed the tutors to focus on refining other areas of interview skills such as body language and eye contact. This allows the opportunity to fine tune the interview response and to work on the appropriate emphasis on the student’s role, the action taken and the language used.
Allie experiences global developmental delay, autism, dyspraxia, and a moderate learning difference. She shared her feedback on Present Pal and her experience of the workshop.
“I enjoyed using the app which helped me make sure that I answered to the best of my ability. I also enjoyed that you also can create a presentation of all your notes that you have written to make sure that it all makes sense… I enjoyed using the app and hopefully can use it again for all of my interview questions from now on.”
Liam from Project Search commented on the success of the project, saying:
“With the additional contextual cues provided by the Present Pal app and the ease of access afforded by the software, I feel that this technology could vastly improve the ability of students to recall their interview responses and to allow us to teach points that would help the young people demonstrate their potential.
If employers could also be convinced to allow use of the software as a visual prompt during an interview as a reasonable adjustment for disabled candidates I feel that it could address the disadvantage gap in disability unemployment.”
After this successful test we are now supporting a further two Project Search locations with the Present Pal software for interview preparation and skills development, with the University of Strathclyde being one of the locations.
There are many other assistive technology tools for autism that you can use to support yourself or someone you know follow this link here to find out about more assistive technology examples.
#CelebrateDifferences
IMAGE: A woman smiling at the camera taking part in a fun run
During these uncertain times it is a great chance to pull together and support each other and we are proud to be supporting World Autism Awareness Week and Project Search.
Share your support on social media with us on Twitter and Facebook and don’t forget to #CelebrateDifferences