Not-for-profit Specialisterne, launched last August as a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS), the social enterprise support agency that assists disadvantaged communities and people to realise their potential. It has received £700k investment from Scottish Government’s Scottish Investment Fund, an award of £407,000 from the Big Lottery and £30,000 from Glasgow City Council.

It can now provide highly skilled software testing services to leading blue chip companies using characteristics and skills which some people with autism excel in eg. insight, precision and repetition.

More than 100 people with autism applied to join the Glasgow-based Specialisterne last year. Now ten people havebecome accredited software test engineers and full-time employees after completing an intensive six month training programme. Many of them have previously lost their jobs due to their autism.

Specialisterne has now won its first contract with the Glasgow Third Sector Forum. It will create a web portal to coordinate activities of all the third sector and voluntary organisations in the city.

Specialisterne Scotland hopes to employ 50 people with autism by 2015 and reach a turnover of £1.6m. Next phase recruitment of trainees will begin soon.

Specialisterne at Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow is the first of its kind to be modelled on the original  consultancy in Denmark, founded by Thorkil Sonne in 2004, after his son was diagnosed with autism.

The Danish firm, also a social enterprise, employs more than 50 people and has a turnover of around £1.5m. Thorkil Sonne hopes to create up to one million jobs for people with autism through his charity the Specialist People Foundation, by replicating the successful model worldwide.

Since opening in Scotland, Specialisterne has also started-up in Iceland, Poland and Berlin. It has created a bespoke training model for people with autism which it hopes will be rolled out across other branches of Specialisterne around the world.

Not only does the model cover software testing training, it provides help and support in areas of employment which people with autism can find challenging as interpersonal skills, planning and anxiety management.

Gerry Higgins, CEO of CEiS says: “Specialisterne Scotland is open for business and we are keen to talk to any firms who need software testing engineers, across a range of sectors including IT and financial services.

"We have the right people with the rights skills, who excel in software testing."

David Farrell-Shaw, Specialisterne Scotland manager, whose son also has autism adds: “Developing and implementing the training programme has been an incredible journey for all of us. The Sopra Group, a leading industry company, helped deliver the IT training for us, but equally important was provision of support with softer skills.

 “Only 13% of adults with autism are in full-time employment, despite having specialist skills which offer businesses, such as IT, telecoms and financial services, a truly competitive advantage.

“People with autism can be extremely intelligent. Sadly society as a whole doesn’t recognise this. Some employers even find it difficult to make the small adjustments that people need to allow them to flourish in the workplace. At Specialisterne we incorporate a supportive, safe environment into daily working life.

 “The training model developed here in Scotland could be applied to other countries, as it is very focused on the specific needs of people with autism.

“We are currently in discussion with a number of IT firms about providing them with software testing services and hope to announce additional contracts soon. Firms such as HP and Microsoft have already been very supportive by giving us IT equipment and software packages.

“If a business appoints Specialisterne to do software testing, it will get something of substance back – a high quality service that it actually needs and that we can deliver competitively, in addition to meeting corporate social responsibilities.”

Two new employees Julie Langdale (34) from Irvine, only diagnosed with autism two years ago and Glaswegian Andy Wallis (47), have found working for Specialisterne to be a life changing experience. Both lost their jobs after being diagnosed with autism in adulthood.

Langdale, who struggled with employment for years until she was diagnosed with autism, said: “When I started at Specialisterne I was at my lowest ebb. I had just lost my job, not long after revealing I was on the spectrum. Issues I faced at work could have been easily managed with reasonable adjustments. I have sensory problems and find social interaction difficult, but I could do the job perfectly well.

"My performance soon started to suffer, as the stress of adjusting to the fact that I was autistic and the pressure of not having my needs met took its toll. 

"The issues I had that were easily addressed outside the workplace were liabilities within it. I went out of my way to educate them, but at the end of the day it just wasn’t enough.”

”I was referred to Specialisterne by the National Autistic Society Scotland (NAS Scotland).  I feel like a completely different person – confident, calm - happy.”

Julie has  become an advocate for people with autism recently standing on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to speak out about standing up for autism, that she never dreamed she would have the confidence to do a few years ago.

Wallis, with his PHD in Distributed Artificial Intelligence, actually lost his job as a university lecturer after telling his employers he had Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, following diagnosis in 2004.

”Everything was fine until I asked my employer to make small adjustments to accommodate my autism. They didn’t do this and refused to believe the medical evidence. In the end I found it so stressful that I had a nervous breakdown.

"I became agoraphobic and wouldn’t leave the house or talk to anyone. I was convinced I’d never work again. On reflection most of the jobs I’ve done ended badly, but at the time I didn’t know I had Asperger’s.

“Then I heard about Specialisterne and knew this might be my only chance of getting back to work. I went through the application process and have never looked back.

"I have re-discovered abilities I no longer thought I had.
I now know that I can be successful without the stress of trying to pretend I don’t have difficulties or being someone else.”

In fact Andy has been so successful that he developed an idea for a new website called “Invisible Ramps,” which has been selected out of nearly 100 who applied, to be part of the Social Innovation Camp.

The website will allow people with psychological or cognitive disabilities to develop and promote small changes they would like to see in their built environment in the way ramps make it easier for people with wheel chairs to access buildings.