The Specialist People Foundation works to enable one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges through social entrepreneurship, corporate sector engagement and a global change in mind-set.
The foundation owns Specialisterne Denmark and the Specialisterne trademark. Specialisterne Denmark, which translates from Danish as “the specialists”, is a social innovation company providing IT consultancy services, where most of the employees are people with autism.
It is with great pride that we can announce a partnership between Unicus and Specialist People Foundation whereby the parties will share knowledge and collaborate around customer engagements. Unicus will also join the growing network of Specialisterne operations worldwide as … Continue reading
Specialisterne Denmark have received an injection of growth capital from the newly established The Social Capital Fund (“Den Sociale Kapitalfond”), Denmark’s first social venture fund, which is focusing on investing capital and competencies in promising social entrepreneurs to scale their … Continue reading
It is with great pride that we can reveal that Specialisterne Foundation, Inc. has now formed in the USA. Incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. The foundation will drive and support the adoption of the Specialisterne model across the United States, and … Continue reading
The Specialisterne model continues to spread to more locations around the world, and we are delighted to announce that Specialisterne Austria is now an officially registered association. Local Coordinator Stephan Dorfmeister is leading the operation and is already in full … Continue reading
Specialisterne Opens for Business in Switzerland Specialisterne launched in Switzerland today October 20 2011, following Denmark, Scotland and Iceland to become the third licensee of the Specialisterne model. Specialisterne Switzerland, led by CEO Thomas van der Stad, celebrated the launch … Continue reading
On June 21-22, 1,000 leading changemakers, social entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, public figures, corporate leaders and media players gathered at Versailles, France for the Ashoka Changemakers Conference. See what Thorkild Sonne had to say. See more here
With the support of the European Commission, Specialist People Foundation aims to improve opportunities for people with autism, to include – rather than exclude – them in society in Poland, the UK, Spain and Germany. The project will conduct feasibility … Continue reading
April is World Autism Awareness Month and a relevant period to reflect on the situation and actions needed to be taken to improve the lives of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). SPF will during this month put spotlight on what we are doing to create better opportunities for employment, careers and quality of life for people with ASD.
Everyone who lives and works within the autism field knows that we are witnessing a tsunami of young people with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum coming up through the school system, and soon transitioning into the labor market. The US Centre of Decease Control (CDC) estimated recently that the number of autistic kids in the US has skyrocketed by 78% since 2000. Nowadays, one in 88 American kids has autism, according to the new figures, and one in 54 among boys. Those are facts we cannot ignore, and calls for decisive action.
Much is being done, but there is a lot to do and a long way to go – beyond early intervention and adequate & timely care, we need in particular to provide real solutions for better employment opportunities. This is what the Specialist People Foundation (SPF) are doing every day, and have set the ambitious goal of enabling one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges. With the new CDC numbers and growth rate experienced in recent years it will not be long before 100 million or more people in the world may be in scope of the mission of SPF.
SPFs vision is a world where people are given equal opportunities in the labor market. We are deeply motivated to help tackle the enormous challenge of ensuring that people with autism and similar challenges indeed are brought into a position where they can realize their unique potential. To fulfill this aim, SPF have defined its mission to provide training, education and employment for people with autism and similar challenges through global collaboration and knowledge share based on the Specialisterne model.