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Practice, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
Working from home opened up her life, Rebecca McCash told employers
In short
At the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium, Rebecca McCash and Tammie Sinclair argued that workplace accommodations are individual, usually simple, and best offered to everyone.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
Rebecca McCash’s test for a workplace accommodation was a short question. If people can work from home, she asked the employment panel at the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in June 2024, why not? If someone prefers a part of the office that is slightly less overwhelming, why not? “It’s like why not?” she said. An employer who could give a really good reason for refusing, one that actually made sense, would get no argument from her. Most of the time, she said, these things are simple and easy, and what stands in the way is a perception that a person who works in an office must be in the office.
Her own case was concrete. McCash, who works at FutureTech, told the panel that “my ability to work from home, for example, has completely opened up my life”. When she worked in an office all day, she said, she came home so exhausted that she had to pull herself up the stairs and go straight to sleep. She had no energy for self care or wellbeing. Flexibility, she said, is really key.
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Sources the story draws on
- The Buckland Review of Autism Employment: report and recommendations (opens in a new tab), UK Government (Department for Work and Pensions secretariat; review led by Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, supported by Autistica)
- The compelling case for disability employment in Australia: the unrivalled benefits of an underutilised labour market (opens in a new tab), JobAccess (funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services)
- Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), section 65, Employee may request change in working arrangements (opens in a new tab), Commonwealth of Australia (via AustLII)
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