Specialisterne Scotland opened for business in August 2010. The Scottish licensee was set up with support from CEIS, in partnership with National Autistic Society Scotland and the Autism Resource Centre, as well as a total investment, grant and loan of 1.5 million pounds from the Scottish Investment Fund, the Big Lottery and the Glasgow City Council.

“By 2015 we expect to employ a total of 61 people, 50 of whom will have autism, and have a projected turnover of £1.6 million, ” says Specialisterne General Manager David Farrell-Shaw. “In the long term we anticipate that the majority of the workforce will be working at customer premises, assisting the competitiveness of Scottish businesses. Specialisterne Scotland is a social enterprise. This means it has a social purpose at the very heart of what it does and any profit it makes will be reinvested in helping to create jobs for people with autism.”

Autism is much more common than people think. There are 50,000 people in Scotland living with autism. According to the I Exist, only 13% of adults with autism in Scotland are in full-time employment, and 52% are financially dependent on their families. k. Specialisterne Scotland works to provide people with autism the opportunity to use and develop their special skills based on their own qualifications, strengths and ambitions.

Specialisterne Scotland’s service offering includes Project Based testing, such as functional testing, and Value Add services, such as content management and data migration. The Scottish licensee has worked recently to scale up their web development services, initially targeting third sector companies.

Click here to visit the Specialisterne Scotland website