A social enterprise in Limburg has developed an app that allows its employees with autism to communicate clearly with supervisors. It hopes to customise the app for other similar businesses.
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Social enterprise develops app to help employees with autism communicate
Sally Tipper
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TWERK in Herentals is the smallest social enterprise in Flanders. It employs 35 people with autism to manufacture and package fair trade chocolate, as well as handle administration.
“We try to use all the talents of people with autism in our company,” says spokesperson Bart Michiels. “We noticed especially with younger employees, who are more likely to use a smartphone, that it is often difficult to start a conversation. That’s a challenge for people with autism anyway.”
TWERK was set up almost 30 years ago and aims to support people with autism in work and life. Building on its existing communication tools and methods, the company has now introduced an app for employees to express how they are feeling, how their work is going and whether they want help.
In a ‘war on talent’, we want to empower every talent
To begin with, the app focuses on communication between employees and their supervisors. “But we are now testing whether we can extend that to family, friends, therapists or GPs,” Michiels says.
The process begins with a specific question and people can respond with text, colours, emoticons or numbers, depending on how they prefer to express themselves.
“There are of course people outside our company, with or without autism, who also have a barrier to communication. For example, people who are non-native speakers or less literate,” says Michels. “That’s why we are going to see if we can adapt the app for those people as well.”
The app was developed with support from the province of Antwerp. “In a ‘war on talent’, we want to empower every talent,” says Kathleen Helsen, councillor responsible for Inclusive Economy.
“We are therefore investing €500,000 in all kinds of social economy projects. Each one of them is tailored to people who are struggling – for whatever reason – in the regular labour market but who, thanks to support, are able to flourish in their jobs.”