Open employment: the lived experiences of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Melissa Sharpe, Dr Claire Hutchinson and Dr June Alexander

20 Feb 2023

As part of her honours project, Flinders University student Melissa Sharpe interviewed nine adults with ASD who were working in open employment in a range of sectors including retail, hospitality, and commercial cleaning. She found individuals with ASD receive support from many different sources in their employment including supervisors, co-workers, and parents. The support they received from disability employment consultants was more focused on obtaining a job rather than job maintenance or career progression. Career progression was rarely discussed by participants with their disability employment consultant, despite some evidence of poor job matches and unused qualifications and skills. Despite this, participants reported feeling successful due to having a job, having pride in their work, and feeling valued by co-workers.

Melissa Sharpe co-authored a paper on her study with her supervisors, Dr Claire Hutchinson and Dr June Alexander. Melissa (Mel) Sharpe is a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Practitioner and Developmental Educator (DE) at Barkuma Inc. With 5 years experience supporting adults with disability, Mel is dedicated to providing person-centred practice and aims to improve the quality of life of the individuals she supports.

Sharpe, M., Hutchinson, C.  & Alexander, J. (2022). The lived experiences and perspectives of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder in mainstream employment in Australia, Disabilities, 2(2), 164-177. doi: 10.3390/disabilities2020013.