Evaluating the impact of an online autism training on changing employers’ autism knowledge and commitment to inclusion in the workplace

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Ashworth, M., Heasman, B., Crane, L., & Remington, A. (2024). Evaluating the impact of an online autism training on changing employers’ autism knowledge and commitment to inclusion in the workplace. Neurodiversity, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330241249266

Publication date: 1 Feb 2024 Added to AutiHub: 30 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)

Abstract

Employers’ knowledge about autism can be a key barrier to autistic people obtaining employment. The current study evaluated the efficacy of an online autism training program, Understanding Autism in the Workplace, in changing employers’ autism knowledge and commitment to inclusion in the workplace. Employers (N = 129) from 22 organizations in the UK completed the training with an autistic (n = 45) or non-autistic (n = 84) trainer and completed surveys measuring (1) autism knowledge and (2) commitment to inclusion in the workplace (CIW), before and after the training. Results showed that at a group level, autism knowledge and CIW improved from before training to after training for all participants, for both the autistic and non-autistic trainer. This latter result may be attributable to the training being co-designed by autistic people. At an individual level, however, only a minority of participants (both with an autistic and non-autistic trainer) showed a significant increase in autism knowledge (10.1%) and CIW (5.8%), suggesting autism training was more effective for some participants than others. Autism training should not be the sole initiative to address barriers to employment for autistic people but should be part of a broader package of support for employers.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 17:55.

Cited references
74
With a DOI
60
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
14
5 / 74 (6.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
9 / 74 (12.2%)
References with detected author names
65 / 74 (87.8%)
Without detected author names
9
Without a structured title
8
Without a stable identifier
14
References with raw author names still to review
8
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
255
From DOI or external metadata
255
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
8
122 / 255 (47.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 133 / 255 (52.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
11 / 255 (4.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 11 / 122 (9.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 9 / 201 (4.5%).
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