October is Disability Employment Awareness Month and every year it brings important attention to disability inclusion in the workplace.

Across the country, campaigns led by organizations like Avalon Employment Inc, CCRW and other disability employment groups put inclusive employment top of mind. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, initiatives like Light It Up! For NDEAM, promoted by MentorAbility, creates visible reminders and opportunities to celebrate the contributions of persons with disabilities in our workplaces and communities.

For those of us working in disability employment, October is busy. We get calls to deliver presentations, join panels, events and celebrations. Then November arrives and the lights return to their usual colours, the campaigns wrap up. Calendars switch month but the work doesn’t stop there.

At Autism@Work, we see what comes after awareness.

Autistic people continue to face significant barriers to entering and remaining in the workforce, while employers continue to tell us about labour shortages, recruitment challenges and difficulty retaining the people they need. Those realities shouldn’t exist in separate conversations.

There is talent looking for a way in, and there are employers looking for talent. Sometimes, what stands between them isn’t willingness. It’s a hiring process, an interview format, an onboarding practice, a workplace expectation or another barrier no one has stopped to examine yet.

That’s where the work after awareness begins. If you booked a presentation in October, book a consultation in November. Take what you learned and look at your own systems. Where might barriers exist? What could be adjusted? What does inclusion look like when it moves from a slide deck into everyday workplace practice?

And if October disappeared before you had time to book anything, you haven’t missed your opportunity. You don’t have to wait until next October when your office is lit up blue.

Autism inclusion isn’t a campaign, and neuroinclusive employment isn’t something we turn on for one month of the year. Through Autism@Work, we work with employers year-round to identify barriers, explore practical accommodations, strengthen recruitment and retention practices, and build workplaces where autistic talent has a meaningful opportunity to get in, contribute and grow.

October gives us a reason to start the conversation, November is a pretty good time to decide what we’re going to do with it.