Sheffield Children’s hospital has set up the first partnership with Choices College which specialises offering supported internship courses for 16-24 years old adults, Zhaona Li reports.

The partnership aims to provide a variety of 12-week placements tailored for individuals with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities with only 4.8% of adults with a learning disability known to adult social care in England in paid work in 2023, according to NHS data.

The latest data from a Labour Force Survey shows that only around 30% of working age autistic people are in employment, compared with around 50% for all disabled people and 80% for non-disabled people.

Joan Pons Laplana, Choices College Area Manager for South Yorkshire, who is autistic, said: “That’s why I’m very passionate about this project. I got a lot of problems during my career.

“I was a bit sick of the misperception that because you have autism, you are not capable of doing a job.

“We want to change perspectives about people with additional needs. The fact is that they can be fantastic employees if they are given the opportunity.

“We support them, we help them to believe in themselves and also change perceptions of people who work with them to show that they have huge potential, to stop people thinking of the limits and to see their possibilities.”