• Melbourne VIC, Australia
  
• Part-time
  
• Department: Partnerships, Development & Autism Friendly

Company Description

The Aspect Autism Friendly team’s mission is ‘Making Australia Autism Friendly’.

Our team works with all different types of organisations in all different sectors/industries who come into contact with the general public and Autistic people.

Our work is informed by Aspect Autism Friendly’s Framework – a comprehensive approach that was developed based on:

• Research.
• Aspect’s 50+ years of good-practice knowledge.
• Autistic coproduction.

We try to be an autism-friendly/inclusive employer and our staff report that some of the strengths of our team include being:

• Friendly & warm.
• Open-minded.
• Patient & flexible.
• Understanding and supportive of social or communication differences.

We are a team of Autistic and non-autistic people who work together in partnership to:

• Walkthrough and assess places, events or activities.
• Make recommendations about how organisations can improve their places, events or activities.
• Develop helpful resources like Visual Stories, Sensory Maps, Visual Communication Supports and Visual Schedules.
• Support the development of inclusive events and initiatives, like adapted sport programs or relaxed theatre performances.
• Provide training to staff about supporting autistic people.
• Do a follow-up walkthrough to check how recommendations have been implemented.
• Advocate for good practice autism friendly work through a variety of communications including media and social media e.g. linkedin.com/showcase/aspect-autism-friendly.

About the role

During 2021-2024, the Aspect Autism Friendly team received government funding to work with Cultural and Sporting organisations in Sydney. This included working with organisations like:

• Museum of Contemporary Art.
• Art Gallery of NSW.
• Taronga Zoo.
• Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
• Sydney Dance Company.
• City of Sydney Basketball.
• Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Aspect Autism Friendly team has received further funding to do similar work in Melbourne & regionally in Victoria until June 2026. This includes working with Cultural and Sporting organisations like local sport clubs, professional sport clubs, art galleries, zoos, museums etc.

The team works flexibly, meaning that you might:

• Attend the office sometimes (based at Victoria university St Alban’s campus with Aspect Individual Adult Services).
• Work from home sometimes (including Zoom meetings).
• Visit various locations (like doing an assessment at a zoo, or running training for coaches of a sport team).

‘A Week in the life’

Each week might look different, especially as projects with different organisations progress.

Below are some of the things that you might do in a week:

• Attend and participate in team meetings.
• Book meetings, plan projects (admin, calendars, writing).
• Support colleagues with planning, or during assessments.
• Deliver training to partner staff (either face to face or on-line).
• Do a walkthrough assessment of a place or program, taking notes and photos, talking to clients and supporting colleagues.
• Write a high-quality and timely report based on the assessment that is positive, strengths-based, educational and provides recommendations for improvement.
• Developing resources or supporting events such as Quiet Hours.
• Make progress notes using Salesforce (we will teach you how to do this).
• Sharing information about your work with Aspect Communications.
• Check/follow up with clients or team mates (good executive functioning).

Qualifications

Key skills (or willingness to learn)

Below are some of the key skills that have been identified as helpful in this role by the Autism Friendly team. It’s OK if you don’t have all of them, but it is helpful if you are willing to learn:

• Is organised i.e. lists, booking calendars, planning.
• Likes language and making it accessible, writing in different styles (i.e. formal report or accessible resource).
• Enjoys organising and writing reports with feedback and suggested solutions in a positive manner.
• Has experience supporting people navigating an overwhelming environment.
• Is a confident public speaker/educator/presenter.
• Works in partnership to respect and amplify lived experience perspective of autism, while also sharing own expertise and experiences.
• Comfortable communicating with clients via email, Zoom, booking meetings, calendar, organising assessments, preparing resources.
• Project management – breaking down and completing steps of a project, keeping in touch with clients, contributing to reports.
• Personal and community advocacy skills (not just thinking about yourself – drawing upon stories of others where appropriate).
• Ability to communicate your experience to walkthrough partner/client during assessments.
• Staying within the scope of the role, and taking guidance and feedback from others.
• Willingness to learn, apply and further develop the Aspect Autism Friendly Framework.
• Be open minded and tolerant that people have different beliefs/expectations and seek consensus kindly.
• Being flexible and adaptive working in different environments.
• Own self-awareness and strategies when feeling overwhelmed, or ability to communicate with manager (i.e. in the moment at a venue, or during the week with work tasks (or willingness to learn).
• Confidence in disclosure of lived experience, and comfortability sharing this publicly.
• Comfortable working from home, office and out with clients.

Additional Information

Other Requirements

• Be Autistic.
• Driving/Car.
• Events outside work hours – Time in Lieu.
• Working with Children Check for paid employment (for relevant state) and National Police Clearance on job offer is mandatory.
• For more details, see the attached position description.
• This role is maximum term,1 year contract, part time 4 days per week. The full time equivalent salary is $80,000 (inclusive of superannuation) per annum. Salary packaging options are available to increase your take home pay.

To Apply:

Click 'Apply Now' and please include your resume and complete the candidate questionnaire; a cover letter is optional. 

Aspect reserves the right to interview and appoint at any stage during the search process.

Enquiries should be directed to: Ainslie Robinson, Working in Partnership Senior Officer at [email protected] using the subject line: Autism Friendly Consultant enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Aspect is committed to increasing the number of Autistic staff and providing an inclusive workplace where everyone can feel that they belong. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds including, but not limited to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, neurodivergent people, people with a disability, the LGBTQIA+ community and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, to apply. We have a range of universal strategies to meet the needs of different people in our hiring processes, and are happy to individualise these.

A position description is attached.