Excellent TV

[Scunner]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0755nzh/employable-me-episode-1http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0755nzh/employable-me-episode-1

[kayakebab]

The A word too, well worth watching, another for the autism season, BBC 1.

I used to work as an employment support worker finding mainstream work placements for people with disabilities and on the autistic spectrum.
The amount of prejudice and obstacles employers found not to take people was at times beyond belief.
However, the flip side was that those who took people on rarely had any regrets.
I remember the manager of BHS in Brighton saying that if all his staff were as dedicated as the guy we placed there who has Downs Syndrome, he would have the perfect workforce.

Finding placements for people with autism is much harder, you think the obvious thing is to place a person who loves books into a bookshop, but it's a disaster as they simply read all day!
Its a challenge finding the right job, but one I feel privileged to have had.

[usedbustickets]

Watched it yesterday, and yes it was excellent TV.  Sensitive in its approach and not like many of those crude viewer p0rn you see on Channel 4 like Benefits Street.

I recruited (internally) a young man who had autism, he had better communication skills than Brett and in fact had a first class degree in Maths, but he struggled with many types of work that others took for granted.  However, the job we had was right 'up his street' and he did a good job, including improving the processes.  He was a great member of the team, and would often amaze us all by taking mathematics problems e.g. 3456289 x 23560 and then  divide by 87854, he gave us the answer quicker than we could get it from using a calculator!!

I really do believe that you do need to look beyond the disability to the person themselves.

[mercury]

Oops yes BBC 2.. The other program was the one talked about by Linda. . Both excellent..