How might we best support the effective and meaningful employment of autistic people and improve outcomes?

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

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Cameron, C. & Townend, A. (2021). How might we best support the effective and meaningful employment of autistic people and improve outcomes? Advances in Autism, 7(1), 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/aia-08-2020-0046

Publication date: 11 Feb 2021 Added to AutiHub: 10 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Carl Cameron *
  2. Abbey Townend

Abstract

Purpose To determine the most appropriate and effective support to enable autistic people to gain and maintain employment in their chosen field. This paper aims to determine this and by which methods are most suitable for this kind of support, with a focus on mentoring. Design/methodology/approach Mentoring is an intervention that has shown promise in assisting people who encounter barriers in finding work (for example, Roycroft, 2014). This research was conducted to determine whether the mentoring of autistic adults is effective in helping them to gain and maintain employment. The study examined the mentoring records of 90 autistic adults who were in receipt of funded mentoring with 18 separate organisations across England. Findings The authors found that the nationally recognised statistic of autistic people in full-time employment as 16% (National Autistic Society, 2016) was ambitious and subject to regional variation. Based on the results of a programme providing employment and mentoring support that is available and accessible to autistic people, however, outcomes improve and employment is more likely to be achieved and maintained – including in areas of, especially low employment. It was found that 48% of autistic job seekers who were supported by specialist mentors found paid employment (full-time or part-time), demonstrating a 16% increase in paid employment between those who received mentoring support and those who did not. Research limitations/implications A wider study across the UK would first determine if the nationally recognised figure is incorrect and also highlight those areas of the country which perform particularly well or badly. Originality/value This paper believes that this is the only research of it is kind in the UK and that it is a springboard for others who have greater resources available to them. This study is two very early-career academics on the autism spectrum with limited resources available to us.

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 01:05.

Cited references
37
With a DOI
17
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
20
0 / 37 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
10 / 37 (27.0%)
References with detected author names
27 / 37 (73.0%)
Without detected author names
10
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
20
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
53
From DOI or external metadata
53
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
8 / 53 (15.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 45 / 53 (84.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 53 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 8 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 46 (0.0%).
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