September is Disability Employment Month in B.C., recognizing the significant role people with disabilities play in the province’s workforce, while also promoting the resources and tools that employers can use to reduce barriers to employment and to build more inclusive and more accessible workplaces.
Canucks Autism Network (CAN) provides programs to individuals on the autism spectrum — of which there are over 19,000 in B.C. — and their families.
Believing that every autistic individual has the right to meaningful employment, CAN promotes acceptance and inclusion through community engagement and training initiatives across the province and beyond.
CAN is a proud partner of Ready, Willing & Able (RWA), which is a national initiative that engages, educates, and supports Canadian employers in building an inclusive workplace by hiring people who are on the autism spectrum or have an intellectual disability. In fact, 97% of RWA’s partner businesses have rated employees hired through the program as well as or better than average on turnover.
Currently, CAN is working with Inclusion BC to co-deliver RWA as a free service so that any prospective business or job seeker can access the resources.
Photo: Canucks Autism Network.
The non-profit organization has been connecting with numerous local businesses to provide consultation and training services for the inclusive hiring of qualified candidates on the autism spectrum and qualified candidates who have an intellectual disability.
Traction on Demand, North America’s largest dedicated Salesforce consulting and app development firm, is among the inclusive employers that have worked with CAN.
“The RWA program was crucial in getting our accessibility program started, and more importantly, provided a baseline of training resources we could leverage and deploy to large groups of people in a short time,” says Chris Shinnimin, Development Team Lead at Traction on Demand. “We've built in the "Inclusive Workplace Resources" as the kick off to anyone in our organization who wants to explore increasing their inclusivity on their team.
Shinnimin continues, “Having these resources free, and readily available to anyone who wants to access them is extremely helpful to ensuring that we are setting our leaders and our future Tractionites up for success."
Thanks to their community partnership with CAN, Traction on Demand was able to find a valuable addition to their team in Michael.
"On behalf of Traction on Demand, I can say our experience working with Michael has been an absolute pleasure,” says Shinnimin. “CAN and their partner Orbital Learning prepared us well at the start when we had questions.”
“It didn't take long after Michael was on the job for us to realize the kind of talent he had, as he completed his onboarding tasks and initial projects faster than we could assign them to him and found ongoing success afterwards,” continues Shinnimin. “Michael fits right in on our team and we are very glad we have him.”
Keara Farnan was employed by Evidental through CAN and RWA. Photo: Canucks Autism Network.
Through the RWA program, CAN also works closely with autistic career seekers to help them connect with employment resources, supports, and jobs they are passionate about in work environments they will thrive in.
Through CAN, Keara Farnan found a work opportunity as a Dental Clinic Helper at Evidental.
“Keara’s job coach is experienced, comes around the office then leaves her on her own,” shares Anne Farnan, Keara’s mother. “She touches bases with Keara by Zoom at the end of each week.
“RWA belongs with CAN and the staff have the knowledge to put people in the right positions and get them the job supports that they need.”
For more info on Canucks Autism Network’s involvement in the Ready, Willing & Able initiative, visit canucksautism.ca/rwa.
