Specialisterne opens its doors at ESADECREAPOLIS to help create jobs for people with autism
Specialisterne, S.L. is the social enterprise responsible for implementing the Specialisterne model in Spain. After more than a year of preparation, the company recently opened its doors at the international innovation centre ESADECREAPOLIS. Specialisterne is dedicated to evaluating, training and finding high-added-value jobs for people with autism and Asperger syndrome.
In carrying out this mission, Specialisterne, S.L. will draw on the know-how and nearly decade-long experience of the Denmark-based Specialist People Foundation and of the other Specialisterne offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Norway.
At Specialisterne, groups of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) participate in three- to five-month courses on social skills, information technologies (ITs) and business practices. On completion of the course, Specialisterne finds most participants job opportunities in IT consulting or related fields, according to each individual's abilities.
Through this process, Specialisterne offers employment opportunities and sustainable professional careers to people who are usually excluded from the labour market because of their "disability" – despite their high efficiency and the fact that their strengths are extremely well-suited to certain jobs.
In high-functioning people with ASDs, a lack of communication and social skills is often offset by a great talent for mathematics and technology, heightened concentration abilities, a very good memory, a strong capacity for visual analysis, absolute honesty, perseverance, and the ability to perform repetitive tasks with great consistency.
The objective of the Specialist People Foundation, the non-profit organisation that promotes the Specialisterne model worldwide, is to create one million jobs around the world for people with ASDs or similar disorders.
First course to begin in September 2013
Specialisterne, S.L. has already begun selecting participants for its first course, which will begin in September and will be held in Sant Cugat. Specialisterne's objective for 2014 is to train at least 40 people and to begin operations in Madrid, which will allow the company to serve more people with ASDs over a larger geographical area in the coming years.
Specialisterne's evaluation and training programme is designed to develop participants' social and IT skills while also tapping into the special abilities that people with ASDs often possess. At the end of the process, they are able to perform high-added-value functions for Specialisterne's clients.
"We are very pleased to be launching Specialisterne's proven model in Spain," said Ramon Bernat, CEO of Specialisterne in Spain. "In three years, we hope to have created a sustainable social enterprise that provides employment to more than one hundred high-functioning people with ASDs."
The target participants for Specialisterne's courses are people with ASDs. ASDs are developmental disorders that affect, among other things, the patient's ability to communicate and to interact with other people. Autism is characterised by a particular set of behaviours that affect each patient in different ways and to different degrees – thus the term autism spectrum.
The number of people with ASDs is growing rapidly. The most recent prevalence studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that one in every 88 people is affected by some sort of ASD.
