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  • How can employers support autistic people in the workplace?

    How can employers support autistic people in the workplace?

    According to the charity Autistica, only around 30% of working-age autistic people are in employment, and they face the largest pay gap of all disability groups.

    CIPD research published in February 2024 found that one in five neurodivergent employees surveyed have experienced harassment or discrimination at work because of their neurodivergence.
    Our article published in June 2023 considered the Buckland review and the barriers preventing autistic people from entering the workplace and remaining in employment. The Government published its response to the review on 28 February 2024, giving 19recommendations explored under five specific themes.

    Recommendations

    What initiatives can help raise awareness, reduce stigma, and capitalise on the productivity of autistic employees?

    The review recommends highlighting the availability and sources of advice for employers and publicising the benefits of employing autistic people. It also recommends promoting the Autistica Neurodiversity Employers Index to help organisations measure themselves against best practice.

    What more could be done to prepare autistic people effectively for beginning or returning to a career?

    Recommendations include identifying and promoting cross-industry autism employment support groups, internships, and apprenticeships for autistic young people to gain work experience and skills. Working with autism charities to ensure autistic people know about the support that Access to Work can provide is also recommended.

    How can employers adjust recruitment practices to meet the needs of autistic applicants?

    The Equality Act 2010 provides that employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to the interview process for disabled applicants. However, many autistic people are unwilling to disclose their autism, especially those who have negative experiences from previous interviews.
    The traditional model does not work well for autistic people who have far more negative experiences of interviews, group tasks and psychometric tests. Accordingly, recruitment practices should be modernised to include practical assignments completed before the interview. This will help autistic people to demonstrate their suitability for the role. Job descriptions should be shortened. They are often too long and off-putting for many autistic people.

    How can employers support autistic people already in their workforce?

    One of the biggest barriers to supporting autistic employees in the workplace is a lack of understanding of autism amongst employers.
    The National Autistic Society found that 34% of employers thought an autistic person would be unlikely to fit into their team, and 28% said that autistic people would be unlikely to be a team player. As the review says:
    “These are damaging stereotypes which can impact the ability of autistic people to find employment. It can make them less likely to disclose their diagnosis to either a prospective or current employer, and so not get access to crucial reasonable adjustments.”
    The work environment is also important – hotdesking, bright lighting or high noise levels may contribute to sensory overload.

    How can employers encourage and support autistic staff to develop and progress their careers?

    The review identifies lack of confidence, poor self-advocacy and wrong assumptions about their career goals as some of the reasons why autistic employees could miss out on progression opportunities. In addition, there are few examples of autistic senior personnel who are prepared to be open about their condition. This lack of role models impacts autistic people’s confidence and aspirations.
    The review recommends promoting employee resource support networks and using mentors to help autistic staff develop the skills they need to progress.
    Interestingly, the review expressly states that the recommendations have been selected to be practically achievable in a short to medium timeframe. No new legislation is required, nor is large amounts of government funding. Rather, the intention is mainly to change employer behaviour. The aim is to significantly improve the autism employment rate over the next five years by reducing the barriers to recruiting, retaining and developing autistic employees.

  • The next Starship flight will test much more than hardware

    The next Starship flight will test much more than hardware

    SpaceX is gearing up to launch its massive Starship rocket from South Texas, a test that gives the company a chance to reverse a brutal few months of mishaps on the ground and in the air.

    The last Starship test flight was nearly three months ago, and it notched a milestone: the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster. But that mission ended with the upper stage, also called Starship, or Ship, breaking apart on reentry and the booster exploding over the Gulf during the landing burn phase of flight.

    A few weeks later, the Ship slated for Flight 10 blew up on the ground during a static-fire campaign, destroying a test stand and forcing SpaceX to swap in a new upper stage for this next mission. The Federal Aviation Administration has since closed its mishap investigations into Flight 9, clearing the way for this next attempt.

    These back-to-back losses have raised the stakes and turned this next flight into its own kind of test: Can SpaceX integrate lessons learned and notch some new wins?

    The company’s approach is famously known as “build-fly-fix-repeat,” and each test flight yields a trove of valuable data. But the continued loss of “Ship” during flight has raised questions as to when the megarocket will be ready to carry payloads for commercial customers and NASA.

    Despite the setbacks, SpaceX has made remarkable progress on the stainless-steel Starship since the first flight in April 2023. Most recently, the company made history in May when it reflew a booster for the first time, proving that rapid reuse is possible. But returning the upper stage — let alone landing it for reuse, as is the ultimate goal — still seems to be a ways off.

    The financial stakes have become increasingly public. In a January filing with Texas regulators, SpaceX said it has already poured “more than $7.5 billion” into Starbase and the Starship program. More recently, SpaceX told Florida’s governor that it plans to spend another $1.8 billion to stand up Starship pads at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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    Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

    Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise.

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    NASA is also banking on Starship’s success.

    SpaceX holds two contracts worth $4 billion to develop a version of Starship known as the Human Landing System to return astronauts to the moon under the space agency’s Artemis program. That mission, Artemis III, is currently scheduled for mid-2027. To meet that date and give NASA the confidence it needs that Starship is safe enough for humans, SpaceX must demonstrate a series of tough milestones beyond simple launch and reentry. Those include perfecting Ship’s reusable heat shield, demonstrating cryogenic propellant transfer in low Earth orbit, and landing Starship on the moon. Any one of these is history-making, and SpaceX must complete them all.

    Meanwhile, Bloomberg recently reported that SpaceX reassigned scores of engineers from its Falcon 9 program to Starship to make headway on solving the big rocket’s problems.  

    Starship’s importance to the company’s long-term plans can’t be overstated. Beyond eventually taking cargo and humans to Mars, the longtime ambition of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX is also counting on bringing Starship online to loft larger sized, higher-throughput versions of its Starlink internet satellites at a higher cadence. As that service passes 6 million global customers, SpaceX is looking to upgrade the constellation quickly and bring in more revenue to furnish its multiplanetary ambitions.

    Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing at nearly 400 feet tall, with 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines on the booster and six on Ship. At liftoff, the integrated Starship produces about 16.5 million pounds of thrust.

    For this flight, SpaceX plans a controlled splashdown for Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico and an Indian Ocean splashdown for Ship.

    This will be the fourth test flight this year. Liftoff is scheduled for August 24 with an hourlong launch window that opens at 7:30 p.m. ET. SpaceX will livestream the launch on X.

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