PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
UN: UN calls on businesses to employ people with autism
New York, US (PANA) - The UN on Thursday launched an employment "Call to Action", inviting businesses to make concrete commitments to employ people with autism.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who launched the initiative on the occasion of the World Autism Awareness Day, marked every year on 2 April, said: "People with autism have enormous potential. Most have remarkable visual, artistic or academic skills."
"Thanks to the use of assistive technologies, non-verbal persons with autism can communicate and share their hidden capabilities.
"Yet even where autism awareness is most advanced, more than 80 per cent of adults with autism are unemployed.That is why it is so important for employers to understand their unique and often exceptional skills, and to enable work environments where they can excel," Ban stated.
He urged employers to create work zones where people with autism can excel, as most have remarkable visual, artistic or academic skills.
"We encourage public offices, corporations, and small businesses to have a closer look at the way they perceive people with autism, to take the time to learn about the condition and to create life-changing opportunities.
"This important mission can only be achieved with appropriate vocational training and adequate support alongside a recruitment process that can allow people to successfully integrate into work forces around the world," the UN chief stressed.
The UN General Assembly unanimously declared 2 April World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of children and adults, who are affected by autism, so they can lead full and meaningful lives.
In that resolution, the General Assembly called for training for public administrators, service providers, care-givers, families and non-professionals to support the integration of persons with autism into society, so that they can realize their full potential.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that manifests itself during the first three years of life, and it results from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, mostly affecting children and adults in many countries irrespective of gender, race or socio-economic status.
It is characterized by impairments in social interaction, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication and restricted, repetitive behaviour, interests and activities.
Recent data suggest that employers are missing out on the abilities of people on the autism spectrum which they have in greater abundance than 'neurotypical' workers do, such as, heightened abilities in pattern recognition and logical reasoning, as well as a greater attention to detail.
But, hurdles to employment for those with autism include a shortage of vocational training, inadequate support with job placement, and pervasive discrimination.
World Autism Awareness Day aims to foster greater understanding and empower parents into seeking early intervention therapies. It also invites policy-makers to encourage schools to open their doors to students with autism.
-0- PANA AA/MA 2April2015
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who launched the initiative on the occasion of the World Autism Awareness Day, marked every year on 2 April, said: "People with autism have enormous potential. Most have remarkable visual, artistic or academic skills."
"Thanks to the use of assistive technologies, non-verbal persons with autism can communicate and share their hidden capabilities.
"Yet even where autism awareness is most advanced, more than 80 per cent of adults with autism are unemployed.That is why it is so important for employers to understand their unique and often exceptional skills, and to enable work environments where they can excel," Ban stated.
He urged employers to create work zones where people with autism can excel, as most have remarkable visual, artistic or academic skills.
"We encourage public offices, corporations, and small businesses to have a closer look at the way they perceive people with autism, to take the time to learn about the condition and to create life-changing opportunities.
"This important mission can only be achieved with appropriate vocational training and adequate support alongside a recruitment process that can allow people to successfully integrate into work forces around the world," the UN chief stressed.
The UN General Assembly unanimously declared 2 April World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of children and adults, who are affected by autism, so they can lead full and meaningful lives.
In that resolution, the General Assembly called for training for public administrators, service providers, care-givers, families and non-professionals to support the integration of persons with autism into society, so that they can realize their full potential.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that manifests itself during the first three years of life, and it results from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, mostly affecting children and adults in many countries irrespective of gender, race or socio-economic status.
It is characterized by impairments in social interaction, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication and restricted, repetitive behaviour, interests and activities.
Recent data suggest that employers are missing out on the abilities of people on the autism spectrum which they have in greater abundance than 'neurotypical' workers do, such as, heightened abilities in pattern recognition and logical reasoning, as well as a greater attention to detail.
But, hurdles to employment for those with autism include a shortage of vocational training, inadequate support with job placement, and pervasive discrimination.
World Autism Awareness Day aims to foster greater understanding and empower parents into seeking early intervention therapies. It also invites policy-makers to encourage schools to open their doors to students with autism.
-0- PANA AA/MA 2April2015
