Research and campaigning charity Autistica has this week launched a thought-provoking campaign that spotlights how difficult traditional are for autistic people.
Developed in partnership with London agency House 337, the campaigns looks to challenge employers into re-evaluating their hiring processes, making them more accommodating to autistic people.
‘Hire Different’ will run throughout World Autism Week, which began on Monday (27 March), and will aim to tackle the high levels of unemployment seen across the autistic community, with less than three in ten autistic people currently employed in the UK.
Spearheaded by a 90-second spot, the creative compares and contrasts the interview experience for a neurotypical person, and an autistic one – highlighting the intensely complex nature of the process for the latter.
A series of assets will support with the key work, with multiple executions inspired by real accounts of job interview experiences by autistic people set to run across digital out-of-home in London and Birmingham, alongside social media.
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The campaign will also direct employers to the charity’s ‘Autistica Employers Guide to Neurodiversity’, which provides guidance on how to run inclusive interviews.
“Autistic people face unnecessary barriers to work because of an archaic interview process. Our campaign tells their stories, explaining how companies are too often missing out on the perfect candidate – just because a person is autistic,” Autistica CEO, James Cusack said.
“At Autistica we are rethinking the traditional interview process. We’re sharing resources for employers to help them hire differently by making interviews more accessible for autistic people.”
‘Hire Different’ marks House 337’s first piece of work for the charity since securing its creative account in October last year, and will kick off several weeks of activity tying in to Autism Acceptance Month in April.
House 337 executive creative director, Jo Moore added: “Our campaign focuses on the faults in the whole hiring/interview system that hasn’t changed for decades. It’s madness in this day and age that it has stayed the same and is in no way inclusive or considers someone who cannot interview well under these pressures and will miss out on a job, because of this.”
