Where the conversation continues.
The Touchstone Meetings are monthly community conversations anchored in lived experience — connecting the AV World of Work podcast, real employment questions, and ongoing advocacy by and for autistic people.
One ecosystem.
Four moving parts.
Each Touchstone is a node in a larger loop — research and lived experience feed the podcast, the podcast feeds the conversation, and the conversation feeds advocacy and future episodes.
The Podcast
Each month, AV World of Work releases an episode anchored to an employment topic — featuring researchers, practitioners, and autistic professionals. Registrants receive a direct link and listening notes before the session.
The Touchstone
The episode anchors a live community conversation — facilitated, structured, and built around three host questions. There will be opportunities to:
- —Share thoughts in the conversation
- —Contribute questions or perspectives through the chat
- —Raise ideas that may be explored live, or carried forward into future discussions and community platforms
The LinkedIn Group
After each session, the conversation continues in the AV Career Network LinkedIn community — where monthly reflections, resources, and reactions stay alive between sessions.
Advocacy & Future Episodes
What the community says becomes evidence. The themes, patterns, and unmet needs named across sessions directly inform advocacy outputs and shape future podcast episodes.
What actually happens
in a Touchstone.
Listen to the episode
Each Touchstone is built around that month's podcast. Registrants receive the episode link and listening notes in their confirmation email. You don't need to have all the answers — just let the episode prompt your thinking.
Your three contributions
Come with one question to raise verbally, one thought for the Zoom chat, and one reflection to post on LinkedIn after the session. These aren't homework — they're how you make your voice part of the record.
Free for AV members · $10 for non-members
All sessions run online via Zoom. Cameras are optional. Sessions use AI-assisted capture — not video recording. Participation via chat is always welcome.
Session runsheet
Facilitator: Xavier Gunn — AI Enablement Lead, Minikai
Host & room manager: Jacob Alan Kness — Programs Manager, Autism Valued Inc.
All nine sessions.
The series runs the last Thursday of each month. Each session pairs with a podcast episode starting from Ep 2. Guests for sessions 5–9 have been selected — we are actively seeking funding to confirm them.
If You Could Redesign Recruitment — What Changes First?
Podcast Ep 2: Rethinking Recruitment
Jennifer Spoor (OTARC, La Trobe) & Lyndel Kennedy (OTARC · Author)
- What part of recruitment screened you out unfairly — or nearly did?
- Which strengths never show up on a CV but matter most on the job?
- If you could redesign one part of the hiring process — what changes first?
What Recruitment Missed About You
Podcast Ep 3: You're More Capable Than Your CV Shows
Sandra Thom-Jones — Autistic Professor · Author, Autistics at Work (MUP 2025)
- What did recruitment consistently fail to see about what you can actually do?
- Which of your strengths have proven most valuable — that you'd never put on a CV?
- What would it look like to be genuinely assessed on capability, not performance?
The Hidden Effort Behind 'Doing Your Job'
Podcast Ep 4: The Hidden Cost of Fitting In at Work
Xavier Gunn — AI Enablement Lead, Minikai · Former Data Scientist, ANZ & Deloitte
- What are you doing before you even start the actual job — and does your workplace know?
- Where has the effort of fitting in cost you more than the work itself?
- What would it change if that hidden effort were visible and valued?
What We Wish Someone Had Told Us
Podcast Ep 5: What Nobody Tells You About Getting a Job
Sarah Ballard (Career Practitioner · NDIS Employment Support) & Jack Palit (Community Admin Manager, AV)
- What do you know now about finding work that you wish someone had told you at the start?
- What part of the job-seeking process was hardest — and why does nobody prepare you for it?
- What would actually useful early employment support have looked like for you?
Inside Academics: A Group Reflection Session
Podcast: Autism in STEM / Autism in Academia
- What does it look like to work in a field that rewards the strengths you bring — and punishes others?
- Where does academic culture create barriers that nobody acknowledges?
- What would it mean for STEM institutions to be genuinely designed for autistic minds?
Guest selected — awaiting funding confirmation. Topics and questions are set. Help us get them in the room →
How We Actually Work Best
Podcast: Stop Apologising for How You Work
- What conditions do you actually need to do your best work — and how often do you get them?
- When have you stopped apologising for how you work — and what changed?
- What would workplaces look like if they were designed around your strengths, not despite them?
Guest selected — awaiting funding confirmation. Help us get them in the room →
Access & Accessibility: What Tools Work, What Don't?
Podcast: Even the Best of Us Can Fail Without the Right Scaffolding
- What adjustments have made the most difference — and how did you have to fight for them?
- Which tools or accommodations look good on paper but fail in practice?
- What does genuine accessibility look like — beyond the legal minimum?
Guest selected — awaiting funding confirmation. Help us get them in the room →
What Makes an Interview Feel Fair — or Not?
Podcast: Insights From an Interviewer
- What would a fair interview actually look like — and have you ever experienced one?
- What do interviewers misread — and why does it keep happening?
- What one change to interview design would have the biggest impact?
Guest selected — awaiting funding confirmation. Help us get them in the room →
Adjustments vs Performance Enhancers
Podcast: Work That Works: Rethinking Adjustments as Performance Enhancers
- When has an adjustment changed not just how you work — but what you could achieve?
- What's the difference between an adjustment that accommodates you and one that enables you?
- How do we shift the conversation from compliance to performance — for everyone?
Guest selected — awaiting funding confirmation. Help us get them in the room →
The podcast that
feeds the room.
Each Touchstone is built around an episode of AV World of Work — conversations with researchers, autistic professionals, and employment practitioners that give the community a shared frame before meeting live.
Registrants receive a direct episode link and listening notes in their confirmation email. Find the full series across all platforms:
The conversation
becomes evidence.
Touchstone sessions aren't just a place to talk — they're a structured mechanism for capturing community experience. What's said in the room shapes what comes next.
AI-Assisted Session Capture
Each session uses AI capture — not video recording — to document the themes, patterns, and needs named in the conversation. Jacob names the capture window clearly when it starts and stops.
Community Advocacy Outputs
The patterns that emerge across sessions — what's repeated, what's unmet, what's unnamed — are shaped into community advocacy materials that represent the collective voice, not just individual stories.
Future Episode Topics
What the community says it needs becomes the basis for future podcast episodes. The series is designed to respond — not just broadcast. Session themes directly inform what gets made next.
Stay connected
between sessions.
The conversation doesn't end when the Zoom room closes. Here's where to find us, support the work, and keep going.
Donate to the World of Work Podcast
The guests for sessions 5–9 have been selected. Funding is what stands between them and the room. Your donation goes directly toward confirming guests and producing future episodes.
Donate now →Become an AV Member
AV members attend all Touchstone sessions free. Membership also connects you to the wider Autism Valued community, programs, and resources throughout the year.
Join AV →AV Career Network on LinkedIn
Our LinkedIn group is where the community keeps reflecting after each session. Post your monthly reflection, share resources, and expand on what was discussed in the room.
Join the group →The guests are chosen.
We just need the funding.
The guests for sessions 5 through 9 have been selected. The topics are set. The questions are ready. What stands between this community and those conversations is funding.
If this program has mattered to you — or if you believe it should exist for the people who haven't found it yet — this is how you help make it happen.
Questions about supporting the series? Contact programs@autismvalued.org.au
How we show up
for each other.
All Touchstone meetings operate according to the AV Groups Way — shared mindsets that make every session feel safe, welcoming and genuine.
Autism Valued acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, work, and gather. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and community.
We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded — this land always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We are committed to walking alongside First Nations communities with humility, respect, and a genuine spirit of reconciliation.
Shared mindsets that make every session feel safe, welcoming and genuine.
- A Positive Mindset We see possibilities, strengths and talents.
- A Growth Mindset We pursue goals through continual learning and share that knowledge — we don't judge each other.
- Empowerment We listen, support and encourage others to grow.
- Empathy We try to understand another's situation and help, if asked.
- A Trust Mindset We value the privacy and confidentiality of others in and outside the group.
- A Respect Mindset We acknowledge the wishes and rights of others and believe we are responsible for our own behaviour — including respecting others' needs for space and their views.
- Inclusion We make all of our peers feel welcome and understood.
 | We rely on donations and memberships to provide specialised support, advocate for change and fill the gap in the specific services our community needs. |
