Football legend Rio Ferdinand and his wife Kate are working with a new school in Essex to help children and young people with autism move into employment after they leave education.
Rio and Kate were invited to the opening celebration of The Tower School in Epping, which is part of Options Autism, where they spent time learning about autism, taking a tour of the classrooms, learning with the pupils and chatting with their parents and staff.
Dame Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, also attended the event along with members of Essex County Council and local business representatives.
Rio created the Rio Ferdinand Foundation in 2012 to support young people to tackle inequality and achieve their potential. He and Kate were surprised to learn how much people with autism can struggle to find employment and pledged their support.
A recent study by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that people with autism have the highest rate of unemployment of all disabled groups, with only 22% of autistic adults currently in any kind of employment.
Research from Autistica, the UK’s national autism research charity, also finds that autistic people are more likely to be underpaid and poorly supported, with many people feeling unable to disclose that they are autistic.
As well as setting up links between his own foundation and The Tower School, Rio and Kate have helped to connect the school with The West Ham United Foundation, which provides mentoring, education and employment opportunities to support disadvantaged or vulnerable young people.
Through their Employ Me London scheme, students have been offered work experience placements including opportunities to develop their skills at The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, an urban park in East London.
Kerry Linden, Head Teacher at The Tower School, said: “The employment gap that exists for people with disabilities, especially autism, is completely unacceptable.
“Many people with autism would like to work and have so much to offer.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Health & Social Care released their new national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021-26. The strategy sets out a bold vision for how autistic people’s lives should be better, including helping autistic people find and stay in jobs.
Kerry continued: “Our aim is simple – to get our young people ready for the next stage of their life-long journey.
“We’re committed to supporting our students to develop the skills and gain the experience they need in order to access employment opportunities and become as independent as they possibly can.
“It’s fantastic to have these links with The Rio Ferdinand Foundation and The West Ham United Foundation and we’re really grateful to Rio and Kate for helping to make that happen.
“We’re also delighted to have support from our local Tesco store around offering new routes into employment for our students through potential work experience placements in a variety of roles.”