At the start of 2025, The Australian Government, Department of Social Services released their first National Autism Strategy, led by a vision statement to build a safe and inclusive society where all Autistic people are supported and empowered to thrive in all aspects of their lives.
As career strategists, we are focused on supporting workplaces to create inclusive environments and practices where individuals to feel empowered to understand and state their needs in their career without fear of discrimination.
In 2024 we released a comprehensive white paper Unleashing the power of Neurodivergent Employees, which shares information and advice on how organisations can create an environment that supports the careers and career development of neurodivergent employees, including those with autism.
The Federal Governments strategy has been broken down into two key sections; Key Outcomes and Enabling Actions, which we have shared below along with some recommendations from our whitepaper.
Key Outcomes
- Social Inclusion. Key outcomes as defined by DSS are, the rights of autistic people being upheld, reduced harm experienced by autistic people, increased autism awareness and acceptance, increased inclusion of autistic people within the community, and improved access to responsive support, services and information.
- Economic Inclusion – Key outcomes as defined by DSS include both improved education and employment opportunities for Autistic people as well as greater autism awareness and responsiveness by decision makers in those institutions.
- Diagnosis, Services and Supports – Key outcomes as defined by DSS include improved awareness and access to respectful assessment and diagnosis, improved information and support navigating the diagnosis process and increased access to timely services and support when undergoing assessment and diagnosis for neurodiversity
DSS Enabling Actions: Governance, Research and Evidence, Evaluation and Reporting
1) Governance – The commitment to all strategy and action being guided with input from Autistic people, the communities of support they have around them and leading researchers and institutions.
2) Research-Driven Policy – A policy of ongoing learning and discovery; continue gathering evidence to inform policies inclusive of Autistic people and their communities of support.
3) Monitoring and Reporting – Continuously reviewing and assessing implementation in line with research and response to strategy rollout. Alongside this, the commitment to publicly report on all impact and strategy modifications.
In our whitepaper Unleashing the power of Neurodivergent Employees we look at how organisations can shape their own strategies for supporting and developing autistic employees. We share advice from leading experts in cultivating neurodiversity in the workplace, cases studies from neurodivergent employees, as well as our own experiences as career strategists. This includes understanding the complexities and challenges of neurodiversity in workplace as well as practical advice on how to support neurodivergent employees to develop their career and navigate workplace change.
You can download a copy of our white paper here and if you’d like to discuss any of the insights in this report more, please do reach out to our team.
