World of Work

Episode 5: What Nobody Tells You About Getting a Job Guests: Sarah Ballard & Jack Palit Job seeking is hard. For autistic people, it can feel like navigating a system designed to exclude you. Career practitioner Sarah Ballard and Community Admin Manager Jack Palit bring their complementary perspectives — one supporting NDIS clients through complex employment barriers, the other with lived expe...

Episode 4: The Hidden Cost of Fitting In at Work Guest: Xavier Gunn Masking at work has a price — and for many autistic people, that price is steep. Data scientist and disability sector volunteer Xavier Gunn opens up about the toll of hiding who you are in professional environments, and what it really means to work in a place that aligns with your values. A raw and honest conversation about authen...

Episode 3: You're More Capable Than Your CV Shows Guest: Sandra Thom-Jones A CV can only tell part of the story — and for many autistic people, it tells very little of it. Proudly autistic academic, advocate and author Sandra Thom-Jones joins host Jacob to explore the gap between what autistic people can do and how they're perceived on paper. Drawing on her own experience as a former Pro Vice-Chan...

Episode 2: Rethinking Recruitment Guests: Jennifer Spoor & Lyndel Kennedy Hiring processes weren't designed with autistic people in mind — but they can be. In this episode, we're joined by two leading researchers from the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre at La Trobe University. Associate Professor Jennifer Spoor and PhD candidate Lyndel Kennedy share what the evidence tells us about barrie...

Episode 1: The Productivity Debate Guest: Jeremy Nagel What does productivity actually mean for autistic people — and is the way we measure it at work fundamentally broken? Jeremy Nagel, neurospicy software developer turned startup founder and PhD researcher, joins host Jacob for a candid conversation about autism and productivity, challenging the assumptions that too often leave autistic workers...

Series Introduction: The Why Behind the Work Host & Guest: Jacob Alan Kness (Employment Programs Manager, Autism Valued) | Co-host & Interviewer: Jeremy Nagel Welcome to World of Work — the Topic Spotlight series from Autism Valued exploring what employment really looks and feels like for autistic people. In this opening episode, the tables are turned. Series host Jacob steps into the gues...