Janine Booth - Autism Equality in the Workplace: Removing Barriers and Challenging Discrimination

AUTISM
EQUALITY
IN THE
WORKPLACE

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AUTISM
EQUALITY
IN THE
WORKPLACE

REMOVING BARRIERS
AND CHALLENGING
DISCRIMINATION

JANINE BOOTH

FOREWORD BY
JOHN MCDONNELL MP

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

Disclaimer: Information and other content included in this book is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by a professional or legal advisor.

First published in 2016

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Janine Booth 2016

Foreword copyright John McDonnell 2016

Front cover image source: IngImage.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Booth, Janine.

Title: Autism equality in the workplace : removing barriers and challenging discrimination / Janine Booth.

Description: Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015039415 | ISBN 9781849056786 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: People with disabilities--Employment. | Autism.

Classification: LCC HV1568 .B666 2016 | DDC 331.5/94--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039415

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 678 6

eISBN 978 1 78450 197 6

Contents

Foreword

Some years ago the secretary of a local trade union branch approached me, asking for my assistance as the local MP. He didnt want to explain the problem on the telephone and requested a face-to-face meeting. I thought that hed be coming to see me about a problem his members were having at work or a campaign his union was waging.

In fact, when we met, it was an extremely moving experience as he explained that he had come to see me in desperation about the problems his daughter was experiencing. She was in her late twenties and only a year earlier had been assessed as having Aspergers Syndrome. She was an endearing, bright young woman who had gone through school and early adult life undiagnosed.

Sometimes, when her behaviour did not conform to what others expected, she became confused and stressed at the way people reacted to her. Without any support or professional advice the family was struggling to cope and felt increasingly distressed for her.

This was my first experience as a local MP in undertaking the long, arduous task of gaining recognition of the needs of people on the autistic spectrum in my constituency and securing for them the services and support that they require.

It has been heartrending at times to witness the struggle families have had just to exercise their basic right to gain a professional assessment and to access even basic support services.

As a result I have become active in local and national campaigns to raise awareness of autism. I joined the All Party Group on Autism in Parliament and lobbied for new legislation to enact new legal rights for people on the autistic spectrum so that they can access the support they need and not be discriminated against.

Through my involvement with the trade union RMT, as the chair of its Parliamentary Group of MPs, I met Janine Booth. Janine was the first trade unionist to raise within the trade union movement and had the brilliant idea of convening training seminars for trade union representatives to improve their understanding of autism and to equip them with the knowledge and resources to overcome the difficulties many people on the autistic spectrum face at work.

I attended the first seminars Janine convened. They were a revelation as people told their own stories of what they had witnessed or experienced themselves in their workplaces. There were some heartbreaking accounts of discrimination, unfairness, ignorance and, worst of all, bullying.

The trade union representatives came away from the seminars with a significantly greater knowledge and understanding of autism. More importantly, they went back to their places of employment with the information and the skills they needed to represent and offer advice and support to their members who either were on the autistic spectrum or had family members who were. Thanks to Janines work, a cohort of trade union shop stewards and officials are now challenging the discrimination that people experience at work as a result of ignorance and prejudice relating to autism.

This book is Janines next major contribution to challenging the disadvantages autistic people can suffer at work. It serves as an invaluable guide to the way in which we can transform the workplace so that discrimination against people on the spectrum can be overcome. It is a pioneering piece of work that will both inspire and empower us all to secure the equality at work we aspire to.

John McDonnell MP

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all the autistic people whom I interviewed for this book. Where there is no endnote otherwise, quotes are from these interviews, using just their first names, some of which have been changed on their request. Autistic and other disabled people have many well-intentioned people and organisations that speak for us, but they do not always say what we want to say. Speaking for ourselves and through our own organisations is key to tackling the misconceptions and the discrimination that we face.

Thanks also to Monica Gort for encouraging and facilitating the Autism in the Workplace training courses that I run, to the late Bob Crow for agreeing to the RMT union sponsoring the courses, and to the many trade union representatives who have attended them and who take the knowledge and skills that they learn back to the workplace to fight inequality. This book develops and updates the ideas that I first set out in the Autism in the Workplace handbook published online by the (British) Trade Union Congress in May 2014. I am indebted to Asha Wije, formerly of Simpson Millar, for contributing her legal expertise to the training courses, the handbook and this book. Thanks to Cassie Fox for suggesting that I develop the handbook into the book you are now reading. Finally, thanks to my family for their tolerance and support.