Autistic Adults: Employment

Debate between Shockat Adam and Anna Dixon

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) for securing this important debate. Like many other Members, I have met many neurodivergent adults and their families in my constituency who are desperate to contribute to society and really do want to work but are still struggling to access the same opportunities as their neurotypical peers.

As other Members have said, it is heartbreaking to hold roundtables and hear of autistic individuals who, having volunteered for five years with some of our corporate chains and been told that it would build their experience, find that there was really no pathway to paid work. On the very day that their work experience finishes, after five years, they are told to go home. That leaves them with a real sense that they do not belong anywhere. They thought they were working and did not realise that, after five years, they would simply be told to go home. That is not equality. Our companies need to do much better and show a sense of responsibility.

Across the UK there are approximately 700,000 autistic adults of working age, yet only three in 10 are in employment. Only 15% are in full-time paid work. Just 35% of autistic graduates find work within the first 15 months, which is half the rate among non-disabled graduates. This is not just an autism issue; for people with learning disabilities, the picture is even starker. Of the 950,000 working-age adults with a learning disability, only 27% have a paid job.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that closing the disability gap—indeed, the specific employment gap for people with neurodiversity—will mean opening up opportunities in different ways, so that autistic people do not have to go through interviews and other barriers that a normal application process requires of neurotypical people?

[Shockat Adam]

I wholeheartedly agree. We have to think expansively and not follow the rigorous rules that we have for abled individuals.

Some 77% of unemployed autistic people say they want to work. They are not unwilling; what is unwilling is the system, which creates barriers at the crucial first step, the transition into work. Many of them have never had any work experience at all. We need a structured supported internship and greater flexibility. The minimum 420 hours required by the current Access to Work scheme is simply too rigid and too difficult for many people, and unrealistic for small employers—and employers, too, need support. The Keep Britain Working review identified a culture of fear among managers and staff, which discourages open conversations about disability.

Many people from autism and disability backgrounds find that a lack of visible role models affects their transition into work, and there is inconsistent guidance for employers trying to make reasonable adjustments. That is why I agree with Mencap, which is urging the Department for Work and Pensions to go further and create a central online hub of best practice for employers, provide training and peer-to-peer support for businesses, and ensure that autistic people themselves are consulted. Currently, two thirds say they have never even been asked what support they need.

We also have to look at the benefits system, because for many autistic people it remains an obstacle to work, not a bridge. People fear losing their safety net if they cannot meet their job recommendations and commitments due to a lack of reasonable adjustments. We need a system that rewards their effort rather than punishing their vulnerability.

Helping autistic people and people with learning disabilities into meaningful employment reduces welfare costs, raises living standards and unlocks enormous economic potential. It gives people purpose, dignity and belonging. There are great examples in my constituency of what can be done when we get things right. Leicestershire Cares is a fabulous organisation that assists people with autism and learning challenges into the workplace. Eyres Monsell Club for Young People gives young autistic adults real-world experiences in community pantries and food banks. Café Neuro, which is specifically but not exclusively for people from ethnic minorities, offers supported placements where participants learn teamwork, customer service and confidence. Millgate school is developing leadership and life skills through student-led committees, creating the role models of tomorrow. Finally, charities such as Jamila’s Legacy are showing how conditions like autism intersect with anxiety and mental health, reminding us that holistic pastoral support in schools is essential to preparing young people for employment.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Debate between Shockat Adam and Anna Dixon

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

“Hate is the worst 4 letter word that exists”,

said Holocaust survivor Mathilde Middleberg.

I am deeply honoured to be called in the debate. As movingly articulated by the hon. Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky), 80 years has passed since the liberation of Auschwitz, but it is heartbreaking to see acts of genocide, hate and evil still happening across the world and increasing threats from a new wind of far-right. The horrors of the camps must never be forgotten, and the testimonies of the survivors are still ringing in our ears and are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago, because what is 80 years in the history of the world but a blink of an eye? Yet, sadly, current events suggest that some people today need a reminder of the lessons of that horror.

For the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the University of Leicester in my constituency published extracts from the east midlands oral history archive of an interview with Leicester nurse Erti Wilford. Erti treated the survivors of Belsen for two years after its liberation by the British Army. She spoke of approaching Bergen-Belsen and smelling the dreadful smells from as far away as five miles, saying that she had:

“Never seen so much suffering and lice and filth. At Belsen they were just bag of bones and it was just dreadful, but some of them lived, it was quite incredible”.

Erti recalls the excitement of a camp doctor finally being allowed to deliver a baby and return it back to its mother rather than hand it to a guard for execution.

We must remember the names of Anne and Margot Frank, whose final resting place is Bergen-Belsen. They unfortunately died of typhus approximately a month before the liberation.

One would hope that such experiences mean that hate and genocidal and Nazi actions are a thing of the past, but sadly that is not the case. As articulated by the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers), in Bosnia, the trucks arrived and they said, “Men, young and old, tall and short—get on and we will transport you to safety.” Within two weeks, 8,000 Muslim men, women and children were executed.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

I commend hon. Members for their contributions. Would the hon. Member join me in congratulating organisations such as Remembering Srebrenica, which has done so much to remember those Muslim boys and men killed during the Bosnian war, which is now some 30 years ago—we will be remembering that anniversary this year—and to learn lessons as well?

[Shockat Adam]

I welcome that intervention. All the work being done is absolutely vital.

We have seen genocide in Rwanda, where close to 1 million Tutsi were killed, and now, as we speak, in Sudan. If “never again” means anything, it means that the international community must take decisive action to pursue the perpetrators through the International Court of Justice. Instead, the far right is almost being indulged. Earlier this week, people who rioted on 6 January, who very much have far-right tendencies, were forgiven. Many of them were radicalised online.

This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme is to take action “for a better future”. That is why I am delighted to hear from the Minister that education will remain a priority. If we do not learn the lessons of history, we will live them again. Inter-faith work is absolutely vital. That is why I am proud to have been part of a team that set up an inter-faith group so that religions can talk to each other, not point fingers, and build bridges, not burn them. We must also take action against and hold social media firms and publishers to account for far-right misinformation.

I end with the words of Elie Wiesel:

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”