News

Vision Australia are running research to help the Department of Education and Training (DET) with redeveloping and enhancing its public facing website, particularly sections on the education and support of students with disabilities and additional needs.

 If you are a parent of a child who has a disability or if you are a student over the age of 14 who has a 'disability', we would like to invite you to take part.

A bit of background to the research:
There will be two sessions that will take place on separate days. The focus group will last approximately 2 hours and the user testing session will last 1 hour. As a way of appreciation participants are compensated $150 for their time for the focus group and $100 for their time for the usability session.

If you are a parent, we plan to conduct the focus group on the 27th June from 10am to 12noon. User testing sessions will be conducted from the 4th to the 6th of July. Please feel free to contact me and nominate a time that suits you.

If you are a student, we plan to conduct the focus group on the 28th June from 4pm to 6pm. User testing sessions will be conducted from the 4th to the 6th of July. Please feel free to contact me and nominate a time that suits you.

Both events will be held at Vision Australia’s Kooyong office: 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong VIC 3144.

If you are interested in taking part please let me know. You can contact Deb on 02 9334 3456, or by email: digitalaccess@visionaustralia.org

You’ve done the Morrisby Test, as well as maybe a Myers Briggs but your work options feel limiting? 

You may be aware that the current career system will become defunct. Yes the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) has put an eye glass to our future through extensive research about what the Future of Work will look like in coming years. The changes are starting already.

It is a very different world our neurodiverse kids will be moving into and our older population will also need to be ready. Already there is already a gap in the skillset our neurodiverse community will need.  

Instead of ticking boxes this world of work will be about discovering strengths. Not linear careers but a portfolio of enterprise skills and capabilities.

Instead of University study and a career for life you may be micro skilling as your life evolves through a “cluster” of roles. 

Most importantly future careers will need you to know your “WHY” (see Simon Sinek) with a self awareness previous generations would envy, just to navigate the new workforce. 

Neurodiversity be ready - that future you spy may be within your fingertips if you are ready. Critical thinking, creativity and innovative mindsets will be needed. You are our economy's "out of the box" thinkers.

Aspergers Victoria is getting ready to try and support you to thrive in this future. We are working to find approaches to shift our readiness. However all of us need to move to embrace and be ready to adapt to this new work mindset - parents, employers, educators - you.

We can all work towards this transition - we welcome your support whether by donation, introduction to employers, supporting our communications, or JOIN our team to make this happen. 

More at www.fya.org.au/

Posted on March 16, 2018 by adamster82

I think things have come a long way for the rights of neurodiverse people since the time I was a mere school kid. Really, I do. I was not even aware of my status amongst this tribe of atypical individuals back in the 90s. But I think we have a long way still to go as a society.

I don’t have a great deal to complain about at the moment. I am currently employed. I was a successful applicant in the first recruitment drive for autistic people in the Victorian state government. I have been lucky, and I have a lot to thank my lucky stars for. But I am aware that many people like myself have not been so blessed with good fortune, and I realise things desperately need to change. I hope the programme I participated in sets a precedent. I hope it is the first of many such initiatives in this country. And around the world. It should set an example to other departments in the Victorian government , and to the departments in other states , also.

These programmes are fantastic, and necessary, but they should have happened a long time ago. I believe serious social reform is in order. We need to reshape the way companies hire, and to help them rethink the way they consider applicants. I want the workforce to be more considerate towards those on the neurodivergent spectrum, basically. This is my goal.

I wasn’t always so fortunate. I finally had a good run of luck, after a decade or more of career dead ends, fruitless job interviews, unsympathetic and ill informed workplaces, and frustration. I know what it’s like from the other side. I want to be right there on the frontline making the workforce a much friendlier place for the atypicals of the world

This is not the end, this is just the beginning.

More from Adam at https://domester82.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/autism-in-the-workforce/

Telstra's graduate program for 2018 is taking advance applications for students in their final year of university who identify as having Aspergers or ASD.

The Telstra Graduate Program offers 18 months of challenging, hands-on and rewarding work that will give participants the confidence and know-how to achieve their goals.  It's an amazing opportunity to get the inside scoop on one of Australia's most iconic brands.  

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, then we encourage you to get started on the online application and get it in early - Telstra have opened this early for our community to give you more time to complete the application.

Visit Online Application   

Applications close 26 March 2018.

The Graduate Recruitment team have done a great job of supporting people from various backgrounds where the applicants have disclosed their specific diagnosis or condition.  A young lady with Aspergers was successful in securing a placement last year and was supported throughout the assessment process.

Epic Assist is launching their IT training academy specifically for people on the spectrum.

For full details and registration, go to their page here

The course starts in March 2018, so get your registration in!

Happy International Aspergers Day! (from Jeremy Samson at Time2Train, Ambassador for AV)

   Hans Asperger was a Viennese child psychologist who published the first definition of Asperger syndrome in 1944. In four boys, he identified a pattern of behavior and abilities that he called "autistic psychopathy", meaning autism (self) and psychopathy (personality disease). 

 The pattern included "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little professors" because of their ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail. It is commonly said that the paper was based on only four boys.

 Asperger was convinced that many of the children he identified as having autistic symptoms would use their special talents in adulthood. He followed one child, Fritz V., into adulthood. Fritz V. became a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton’s work he originally noticed as a child. 

 Interestingly, as a child, Hans Asperger appears to have exhibited features of the very condition named after him. He was described as a remote and lonely child, who had difficulty making friends. 

 He was talented in language; in particular he was interested in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer, whose poetry he would frequently quote to his uninterested classmates. He also liked to quote himself and often referred to himself from a third-person perspective.

 Hans Asperger's findings were ignored and disregarded in the English-speaking world in his lifetime. Finally, from the early 1990s, his findings began to gain notice, and nowadays Asperger's Syndrome is recognized as a condition in a large part of the world.

Hans Asperger died in Vienna on Tuesday 21st October 1980, at the age of 74, not living to see his work either acknowledged or recognised in the English speaking world. 

" It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential ... the necessary ingredient may be an ability to turn away from the everyday world, from the simply practical, an ability to rethink a subject with originality so as to create in new untrodden ways." 

Hans Aspergers

He was born on Sunday 18th February 1906.

Source: Jeremy's Facebook www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1614939891876009&set=a.214903071879705.48601.100000800424044&type=3&theater

Since our submission and presentation to the Victorian Inquiry into Autism Services we have been advocating to government about our members' needs. 

The State government formed The Victorian Autism Plan Advisory Group and Aspergers Victoria has been a part of that since last October. We have attended monthly meetings, viewed suggestions and given a lot of feedback and suggestions and towards implementing the Inquiry recommendations. 

Now the government would like your feedback on aspects of the Plan and has organised some workshops on various key topics including education, employment and mental health.  Please see the attached outline if you’d like to be involved in these workshops. There was also mention of a survey for those who cannot attend.

Please let us know any other feedback at president@aspergersvic.org.au.

A very exciting opportunity exists for Victorians on the autism spectrum to participate in a 3 week training program aimed to help improve their chances of finding employment.

If you're interested in information technology, programming or solving problems with technology then this could be a great stepping stone to becoming work ready. 

Applications close Friday 9 February, so if you've not already expressed interest, please do so now.

There are 4 places reserved for AV members, so email our team so that can get you in touch ASAP!

Copy of the Specialisterne flyer can be found here.