London Friends launch community cafe
3 in 10: People with autism who are in employment
North London Quakers have launched a community cafe to help vulnerable adults gain employment skills. The fortnightly initiative, based in the eighteenth-century Winchmore Hill Meeting House, began last week.
Jeremy Marrs-Gant, from Winchmore Hill Meeting, told the Friend: ‘The project arose from a desire to balance the profile of the Meeting house’s hirers; replace Winchmore Hill Community Care which has closed; and provide work experience for people like my students (young people, typically with autism). I read a piece in a local free newspaper about a charity, One-to-One Enfield, focused upon employment and life skills for autistic adults, [and] they responded positively straight away.’
After one ‘dry-run’ last month, which received very positive feedback from One-to-One volunteers, the cafe opened officially on 23 April.
Local musicians from the Meeting provided the music while Jan Oliver, then acting clerk of premises, ‘has checked food hygiene requirements, planned menus and ordered food,’ said Jeremy Marrs-Gant. Winchmore Hill Meeting is supporting the initiative.
‘There is a massive unmet need locally for employment for adults with, for example, autism, anxiety/depression, and other disabilities,’ he added. ‘We want everyone to be welcome. It’s a form of outreach too, for the lonely, isolated, [and] parents/carers of young children, [as well as] the elderly.’
According to a government report last year, just three in ten autistic adults are in employment, compared to the average of three in four adults. The research, from the Buckland Review of Autism Employment, also revealed that autistic people face the largest pay gap of all disability groups. Meanwhile autistic graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed after fifteen months as neurotypical graduates, with only thirty-six per cent finding work in this period. The report also found that autistic graduates are most likely to be overqualified for the job they have and on zero-hour contracts, and least likely to be in a permanent role.
The report released in February 2024 called for urgent government action to address the autism employment gap.
