02 April 2015 World Autism Awareness Day - United Nations Headquarters New York/USA

The launch of a Call to Action inviting business to make concrete commitments to employ persons with autism took place at an event entitled “Employment: The Autism Advantage” in observance of World Autism Awareness Day on Thursday, 2 April 2015. This event was inaugural and it paved the way to annual Autism Advantage Luncheons.

Speakers included the former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Governor Jack Markell of Delaware, and business executives from Ernst & Young, Freddie Mac, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, SAP and more. Bill Blakemore, award winning correspondent with ABC News, moderated.

The 2015 observance of World Autism Awareness Day was organized by the United Nations Department of Global Communications and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in cooperation with Specialisterne Foundation, with the support of the United Nations Global Compact. The event was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Denmark, Israel, the Republic of Korea, Peru, Poland and Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

The event focused on measures required to support growth in employment opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. The intention was to demonstrate that people with autism can be valued employees for employers who understand their unique and often exceptional skills, as well as what it takes to create work environments where people with autism can excel.

See the webcast of the event or click on each speaker below to see a clip of their presentation.

Welcome and Opening

• Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, United Nations

• Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

• H.E. Mr. Einar Gunnarsson, Vice President of the General Assembly

• Keynote: “A Better Bottom Line“ – Jack Markell, Governor of Delaware

• Moderator, Sessions 1 and 2 - Bill Blakemore, award-winning news correspondent

Session 1: Setting the Scene

• Thorkil Sonne, Founder, Specialisterne Foundation

• Prof. Arlene S. Kanter, Syracuse University

• Merry Barua, Director, Action For Autism and National Centre for Autism, India

• Ronnie Goldberg, Senior Counsel, U.S. Council for International Business; U.S. employer representative on the International Labor Organization’s Governing Body

• Prof. Rob Austin, Copenhagen Business School

• Zsuzsanna Szilvasy, President, Autism Europe

Presentations from the floor

Mitch Levy, GM, ICT and Cyber Security, Department of Human Services, Australia, and Michael Fieldhouse, Account Executive, Hewlett-Packard

Session 2: Autism at Work

• Emily Brooks, graduate student

• John Hartman, artist, employee at Metro Kosher Deli

• Randy Richardson, Assistant Paralegal, Mayerson & Associates

• John Haley, CEO and Chairman, Towers Watson

• Tanja Rueckert, EVP and COO, Products and Innovation Development, SAP

• Mary Ellen Smith, Corporate Vice President, Operations, Microsoft

Presentations from the floor

• Robert Lux, Executive VP and CIO, Freddie Mac

• Jeremy Badman, COO, Oliver Wyman

• Ernie Dianastasis, Managing Director, CAI

• Rajesh Anandan, Co-founder, ULTRA Testing; SVP UNICEF Venutres, UNICEF-USA

• Lori Golden, Abilities Strategy Leader, Ernst & Young

• Rosa Oyama Ganiko, Dir. of Projects and Research, Centro Ann Sullivan de Perú

• Patrick Viesti, Employee, SAP

• Thomas D'Eri, Co-Founder, Rising Tide Car Wash

• Sean Cruse, Research and Communications, United Nations Global Compact

Wrap-up

• Thomas Gass, ASG, DESA, United Nations

Source: United Nations

#inclusion #AutismAdvantage #WAAD #UN