Rethymno, a town of around 35,000 people, has a highly seasonal economy built around tourism, which leaves young people's job prospects unstable at the best of times. A striking share of young people with disabilities who are able to work remain without a job, and a real gap between what school teaches and what workplaces actually expect, in soft skills, professional behaviour, safety and hygiene, makes that gap even harder to close.
For adolescents with autism and intellectual disabilities, the move from education into adulthood and employment is made harder still by a lack of specialised preparation and guidance, often ending in social exclusion rather than a job.
The project
The project runs a hands-on lab that assesses each young person's individual skills and delivers targeted training in workplace safety, hygiene and professional behaviour, the practical gaps that most often stand between young people with autism and a stable job. The approach is built on identifying genuine strengths first, rather than starting from what a young person cannot do.
Long-term sustainability comes through the organisation's own Social Cooperative, which acts as a direct bridge to the job market, offering immediate employment within its own structures or helping place trainees in the wider local labour market. The project also develops protocols, a toolkit and a digital guide, shared freely with other disability organisations, so the model can be picked up and used well beyond Rethymno.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are 15 adolescents with autism and intellectual disabilities, who take part in the skills assessment and vocational training.
Its impact reaches further, to 10 local employers who partner with the project and host work placements in 3 businesses, and to other disability organisations across Greece, who can draw on the project's tools and methods as a replicable model for inclusive employment.
Project name: 'Autism & Employment: From Creative Occupation to Workplace Inclusion'
Proposing organisation: Association of Parents for People with Autism Rethymno
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Italy