Autism Queensland's EmployABLE program video – Michael's story

[Michael Herbert, Lysaght]

My name's Michael Herbert. And my position is an admin assistant. I'm sort of there to help out with checking of orders, sort of help out with scanning, just generally being as much help as I can around the office. That's my general role.

[Nina Cash, Autism Queensland]

Michael joined the EmployABLE Program about 2 years ago, which is a bespoke program for adults on the autism spectrum looking for work. What we did was really get to know Michael and understand some of his key skills and strengths and work out an area where he feels that he would be comfortable working. Autism Queensland are a peak body. We happily support many employers on that journey to become more inclusive and build their capacity of hiring somebody on the autism spectrum.

[Nick Berlyn, Lysaght]

It's an interesting story. Our regional manager was comparing notes with another business manager, in our organization who happened to have an autistic niece. So they had a discussion and he said his niece had a kind of panache for attention to detail. Michael directly reduces the number of errors that we might make and we catch them before they're actually turned into physical errors.

[Michael Herbert]

It's just a job that really suits my head space because I'm very analytical of how I like to do things. And this job is very step by step without much variation, which is very good.

[Nick Berlyn]

When you are engrossed in processing an order, we actually always have a second check by someone else. Sometimes 3, if it's a really high value order and that's something that Michael has become quite stellar actually, at doing.

[Nina Cash]

One of the things I love the most is seeing the growth of our participants. Michael, especially has grown in confidence, his self-awareness, self-assurance and self-resilience have all increased tenfold. It makes us incredibly proud.

[Michael Herbert]

They've really known how I think and how I work, which is very good. And that's quite important for someone with autism because it makes communication also much easier. I've also been trained very thoroughly with how I work and how I think.

[Nick Berlyn]

People are absolutely are our strength. And diversity and inclusion, we have an entire policy on that. Michael can demonstrate that we have a competitive advantage from employing people with different capabilities, resources, backgrounds, it works well.

[Nina Cash]

Individuals have a huge amount to offer and a huge skill set for employers that are interested in hiring somebody that are neurodivergent. The best way to get started is do your research. Think about what roles might be suited or what roles you have vacancies for, and then reach out to an organization such as Autism Queensland. We are a peak body and we've got knowledge and support available to you.