April is Autism Acceptance Month. It aims to raise funds, share resources, and support a society that works for autistic people (1).  I have published a toolkit aimed at music services, but useful for any employer to understand the needs of autistic people, so they can support autistic teachers in their roles.  The reason I created the toolkit stemmed from negative experiences I have had in the workplace, often because line managers did not understand the needs of autistic people. 

Not understanding how autistic people think and behave can lead to misunderstandings, and unconscious bias can lead to these misunderstandings and can lead to poor mental health outcomes for autistic people (2). They find themselves the victims of bullying, harassment and discrimination. To stop this, I have created a toolkit to address misunderstandings and challenge bias. 

Whilst employers and line managers have a duty of care to support their autistic employees, if they don’t understand their needs in the first place, how can their needs be met? The toolkit includes a short video for anyone to watch to learn how autistic people function, express themselves, and what they need from their employers to be happy and healthy in the workplace. This will also help guide managers and employers to ask the right questions to provide the right support. 

It also includes a form to guide managers in asking the right questions, enabling reasonable adjustments that allow them to thrive in the workplace. To complement this, there is also a form for the autistic employee to complete in preparation for the meeting. This allows autistic people to be prepared for any meetings where the form will be used, so there are no surprise questions, which will cause them stress. The form allows the autistic person to reflect on their needs and gives them a voice. 

The final part of the toolkit, at the moment, is a neurodiversity crib sheet, an easy-to-access resource listing the key characteristics of the various conditions under the neurodiversity umbrella. It also includes where to find additional support for employers and employees.  This is another educational tool for managers and employees who need to learn more about a condition to provide the support their employees need. 

This Autism Awareness Month, I’m sharing a resource to help autistic people thrive in the workplace. If you use any elements of the kit, I would love to hear how it has gone and what difference it has made. I would also love to hear what other tools you would like to see created to support autistic people in the workplace. 

The kit is found here

https://www.theautisticsingingteacher.co.uk/supporting-autistic-teachers-toolkit

• https://waam.autism.org.uk
• https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2023/autistic-people-are-misunderstood-the-double-empathy-problem-.php#:~:text=Autistic%20people%20are%20’misunderstood’:,in%20the%20video%20is%20autistic.