Today is April 2, which means its Autism Awareness Day. The entire month of April is actually autism awareness month and in honor of it, I’d like to share a few organizations and companies that are doing some amazing things! For autistic adults, it is usually not easy to find a job but now companies are discovering there is a huge pool of untapped talent.

Rising Tide Car wash in Florida exclusively hires people with autism. Their goal is to send a positive message into the community and let people know that autism doesn’t mean bad worker. Across the ocean in Barcelona, design studio Casa de Carlota’s entire creative team is composed of people with autism, down syndrome and developmental diagnoses. The studio believes these designers have a unique creative ability and that society has yet to tap into their potential. 

A couple who’s two youngest children, Bitty and Beau, have down syndrome, inspired them to create an inclusive space fro those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In 2016, Bitty and Beau’s Coffee opened in Wilmington, North Carolina and now has expanded to three locations. The couple’s intention is to create a space where people with IDD are more “valued, accepted and included in every community”. There are currently over 60 people employed across the three locations.

The Specialists Guild, based in San Francisco, teaches technical and “work readiness skills” to help prepare autistic adults for careers in the tech industry. Walgreens, Home Depot and Microsoft have autism hiring programs. Statistics say that despite this, over 80% of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are unemployed around the world. In 2017, six companies formed the Autism at Work Employer Roundtable. They share the best hiring and workplace practices to help other companies get a better understanding of why they should hire autistic employees.

Autism awareness is all about promoting solutions for this misunderstood population. Over the last few years more companies are starting to shift their perception on what it means to have a worker with autism. Promoting awareness is about changing the way people see, people. At the end of the day, we are all human, autism or not.