@AutismCanTech
https://www.linkedin.com/company/autism-cantech/
https://www.facebook.com/AutismCanTechCanTech is a cross-Canada initiative funded by Employment and Social Development Canada - Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (ESDC-YESS) which combines education that is supportive and informed (“nothing about us, without us”) along with career coaching and innovative assistive technology to help remove barriers and improve employment outcomes for Autistic and Indigenous individuals, whose employment rates currently sit at only 33% for Autistic youth and 57.4% for Indigenous youth.
CanTech is a training and support program that provides participants with one of three job specific technical skills in either data analytics, digital asset management, or audio post production, along with entry-level employability skills and a paid work integrated learning experience (WIL). Where this program differs from other employment training programs is in the training and supports it offers to employers, with an aim to changing the environment in which these young professionals are placed.
With an eye to improving their knowledge base and understanding, the program works directly with employers to affect change in workplace cultures through training programs, workshops, bridging supports, and the services of a no-cost Inclusion and Accessibility consultant, who can work one-on-one to help them grow and improve their understanding of accommodations, help them to develop inclusive human resource and employment policies, and conduct audits of their current inclusion and accessibility practices to show where growth is possible.
Through CanTech we are affecting both education and employment, ensuring two specific equity-seeking groups have increased opportunities for work that is meaningful.
