In light of it being Autism Awareness Week, job search engine Adzuna has conducted some research and found that there are currently 11,176 jobs in the UK on offer directly related to working with or around those with autism.
This number is significantly higher than demand for roles that mention other disorders and difficulties including ADHD (968 live vacancies), Dyslexia (431 live vacancies) and Down Syndrome (288 live vacancies).
The majority of autism related work roles are teaching jobs (4,773) and include positions such as SEN teaching assistants and learning mentors.
Healthcare and social workers are also in great demand with a combined total of 4,639 vacancies currently live with roles varying from autism specialist nurses to clinical psychiatrists and paediatric speech therapists. In fact, the top employer came from this industry. The Care Management Group – a UK provider of specialist support services to children and adults with learning disabilities – currently has 471 positions on offer which are mainly support worker roles.
You don’t need specialist qualifications to help
Many of the roles found in the study require applicants to either have had previous experience working with autistic people or specialist care qualifications. However, for those that can’t afford to completely switch professions, there are still roles on offer that contribute to helping the world understand autism.
Charities, trust and businesses all offer numerous office based opportunities, that are essential for companies to continue providing support services. These positions range from a HR Administrator at Autism Anglia to a Head of Finance at the MacIntyre Academies Trust.
If you’re perfectly happy with your current job there are of course a load of volunteering opportunities available. You could for instance be an event volunteer for a marathon day alongside the National Autistic Society, or be a children’s activity leader supporting children in social activities. Regardless of whether you opt to provide information or support we can all help to create a better society for those on the autistic spectrum!
About Adzuna:
Adzuna is a search engine for job ads used by over 10 million visitors per month that aims to list every job, everywhere. We search thousands of websites so our users don’t have to, bringing together millions of ads in one place.
Our data also powers the Number 10 Dashboard, used by the Prime Minister and senior officials to keep track of economic growth on a daily basis, and is now provided to the Office for National Statistics to help them build real-time labour market indices.