S6E06 - Breaking barriers: inclusive pathways for autistic individuals w/ GMLPN and Digital Advantage

Join us this week as Dean Blewitt, NCFE's Senior Innovation and Investments Manager, chats to Charlotte Jones, Operations and Project Manager from the Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network (GMLPN) and Seamus Mannion, Chief Operating Officer of Digital Advantage.

In the episode, Charlotte and Seamus discuss their organisations' work on the Inclusive Pathways Autism Support Project, which provides tailored support to help autistic individuals navigate vocational pathways and secure employment.

Charlotte emphasises the project's approach of complementing existing services rather than duplicating them, collaborating with stakeholders like the DfE and National Autistic Society to bridge the gap between education and employment.

Seamus shares inspiring success stories, illustrating how their flexible learning environments and innovative approaches have overcome systemic challenges, providing meaningful career opportunities for the people that they work with. 

We'll be back with a whole new episode on Wednesday 24 July. 

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction 

3:05 - Primary objectives of the project 

5:35 - Seamus' role in the project 

8:05 - Challenges/barriers encountered in the project 

10:08 - What contributes to the challenges  

13:20 - Ad break 

14:20 - Overcoming obstacles, navigating different individuals' needs and success stories 

21:30 - Highlights of the project and complementing existing services 

24:25 - Best practice toolkits and how they were developed 

27:37 - Ad break  

28:35 - Best practice tips from Seamus 

31:55 - Future plans for the project 

32:55 - What needs to change in the system 

35:23 - Follow up from discussion 

New here?

You've joined us in season 6 and, if you've enjoyed this conversation, you might want to visit our episode feed and subscribe to POD-CACHE for more. New episodes are published once a fortnight and there are lots of great conversations to catch up on. 

Want to hear more from our guests?

Find GMLPN's best practice toolkits on the 'inclusive Practice' pages of the CACHE Alumni website; Inclusive Practice - Autism Support

You can also find the Inclusive Practice CPD training course on the CACHE Alumni Plus member portal, free for everyone.

And, as mentioned by Seamus, the Get Autism campaign website has links to everything else that you might need. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with your colleagues and remember to like, subscribe and leave us a review. 

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