About

More than a third of autistic people are unemployed, and only a quarter graduate from university or TAFE. 

Based on six years of research, myWAY Employability is a smart web platform that helps autistic young people to take control of their future. Unlike other career planning services, myWAY Employability has been designed for and with the autistic community.

myWAY Employability provides an individual profile matched to relevant career, further education and training information and pathways. It helps young people take big dreams and break them into smaller goals and tasks to track progress.

Research

myWAY Employability comes from research and evaluation related to the Better OutcOmes and Successful Transitions for Autism (BOOST-A) program. The BOOST-A is a digital transition-planning tool to help young people on the autism spectrum to plan what they will do after school.

Students who used the BOOST-A reported higher levels of self-determination to achieve their goals for further study or training and employment goals, than students who used the existing generic school-based transition planning processes.
 

Design

Adopting a human-centred design approach, we worked with autistic young people to really understand their needs and preferences, explore potential solutions, and ultimately co-design, test, and refine myWAY Employability. 

In the discovery phase (Stage 1) of myWAY Employability we engaged with over 220 stakeholders - young people, parents, health professionals, and educators. A further 90 autistic young people were involved in the co-design and development (Stage 2) of myWAY Employability; taking part in co-design workshops, user testing, and/or providing feedback on various elements of the website. 

Autism CRC also established a myWAY Employability Neurodiverse Youth Advisory Group (NYAG) to advise on the engagement elements of the website, content, and user expectations.

Acknowledgments

myWAY Employability was developed in consultation with autistic young people, and their supporters, parents, allied health professionals, researchers, disability service providers and educators from around Australia, and was proudly supported by Telstra Foundation under the Tech4Good Challenge initiative.   

The Better OutcOmes and Successful Transitions for Autism (BOOST-A) program, included the work of Autism CRC PhD Scholar, Dr Megan Hatfield (Curtin University), and her supervisors Associate Professor Marina Ciccarelli, the late Emeritus Professor Sylvia Rodger AM, Dr Marita Falkmer and Professor Torbjorn Falkmer.

The design and development of myWAY Employability was led by Associate Professor Marina Ciccarelli (Curtin University), Cheryl Mangan (Autism CRC), Brendan James (Autism CRC), Adie Wilmot (Curtin University) and Alex Creece (Autism CRC Future Leader alumni).   

We would particularly like to acknowledge the support of Neurodiverse Youth Advisory Group members. Thanks also to our technology development partner The Project Factory, and research partner CSIRO e-health Institute. We would also like to acknowledge Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) and the Queensland Department of Education (Autism Hub) for their ongoing support. 

Our sincere thanks to the many hundreds of young people, parents, professionals and organisations who have been part of the myWAY Employability journey.

References

Better OutcOmes and Successful Transitions for Autism (BOOST-A) 

Hatfield, M., Falkmer, M., Falkmer, T., & Ciccarelli, M. (2017). Effectiveness of the BOOST-A™ online transition planning program for adolescents on the autism spectrum: a quasi-randomized controlled trial. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 11(1), 54. doi: 10.1186/s13034-017-0191-2.

Hatfield, M., Falkmer, M., Falkmer, T., & Ciccarelli, M. (2018). Process Evaluation of the BOOST-A™ Transition Planning Program for Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: A Strengths-Based Approach. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(2), 377–388. doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3317-8.

Hatfield, M., Murray, N., Ciccarelli, M., Falkmer, T., & Falkmer, M. (2017). Pilot of the BOOST-A: An online transition planning program for adolescents with autism, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 0(0). DOI: 10.1111/1440-1630.12410. 

Hatfield, M., Falkmer, M., Falkmer, T. & Ciccarelli, M. (2016). Evaluation of the effectiveness of an online transition planning program for adolescents on the autism spectrum: Trial protocol. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 10(48), 1-11. DOI: 10.1186/s13034-016-0137-0. 

Hatfield M, Ciccarelli M, Falkmer T, Falkmer M. (2017) Factors related to successful transition planning for adolescents on the autism spectrum. JORSEN. 

Hatfield M, Falkmer M, Falkmer T, Ciccarelli M. (2017) “Leaps of faith”: Parent and professional viewpoints on preparing adolescents on the autism spectrum for leaving school. JORSEN. 

Hatfield M, Falkmer M, Falkmer T, Ciccarelli M. (2016) Evaluation of the effectiveness of an online transition planning program for adolescents on the autism spectrum: Trial protocol. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2016; 10(48). doi:10.1186/s13034-016-0137-0 

Career explorer 

Visual Analogue Scale adapted from:

Sung, Y. T., Cheng, Y.-W., & Jeng-Shin, W. (2016). Constructing a situation-based career interest assessment for junior high school students and examining their interest structure. Journal of Career Assessment, 24(2), 347-365. doi:10.1177/1069072715580419

Sung, Y. T., & Jeng-Shin, W. (2018). The Visual Analogue Scale for rating, ranking and paired-comparison (VAS-RRP): A new technique for psychological measurement. Behavior Research Methods, 50(4), 1694-1715. doi:10.3758/s13428-018-1041-8.

These articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Vocational personalities and work environments

Adapted from John Holland’s (1973, 1997) theory of vocational personalities and work environments:

Holland, J. L. (1973). Making vocational choices. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Job information:

Futures: 2019 Undergraduate Course Guide. Perth, Australia. Edith Cowan University.

2019 Undergraduate Course Guide. Perth, Australia. Murdoch University.

Job information adapted with permission from Australian Bureau of Statistics and Stats New Zealand: 122.0 ANZCO v.1.3 (2013). Additional job information from Australian Jobs 2019 and O*Net OnLine.