The company that turned 'disability' into an asset - The Independent 12th Octo... - The Diigo Meta page

• 12 Oct 09
  

  Ed Webb

  autism IT Denmark UK

  • Specialisterne, which has a turnover of £2m and employs more than 40 people
    with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Denmark, is set to open its first
    international operation in Glasgow early next year as a test run for an
    expansion strategy which would see people with ASD working as IT consultants
    world wide.
  • Mr Sonne set up Specialisterne
    (Specialists in English) six years ago, concerned at the exclusion from the
    workplace of people with autism and realising that the traits of “high
    functioning” autistics were in demand among computer software companies.
  • 2 more annotations...

  • • “This is not about offering cheap labour or some kind of
      occupational therapy. We charge market rates, our consultants receive a
      market salary and that is because they simply do a better job. If you have a
      piece of software that needs repeated testing, a student being paid to do in
      Britain or India is going to get bored and lose concentration at the fifth
      or sixth attempt.
      

      
      

      
      “Our consultants relish the challenge of that repetition and they can spot
      anomalies in a large amount of data that others would struggle to spot. We
      cannot be perfect but our error rate is 0.5 per cent compared to the five
      per cent for other testers.”
      

    • The National Autistic Society (NAS), which is working with the Danish
      entrepreneur and other bodies in Scotland to set up the venture, said the
      company’s groundbreaking techniques could be a vital tool to help people
      with autism into work. Research to be released by the charity this week
      shows that 80 per cent of autism sufferers who receive incapacity benefit
      would like to work. Just 15 per cent of Britain’s 500,000 autistics are in
      full-time employment.
• 

  Kieran Lamb

  "When Thorkil Sonne was told that his three-year-old son had autism, the Danish IT specialist ran the classic gamut of responses for parents of an autistic child, from anger that a doctor could burden his happy boy with the label of a lifelong disability, to a desire to learn everything about the condition. "

  Information Technology Employment Learning Disabilities Autism Health News IHN The Independent

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