We asked our friends at Hireup to tell us how they are helping people on the autism spectrum connect with the right support workers to live a more independent life - here's what they had to share ...

“We’ve always had the idea that Adam should be able to do what he likes to do, and live with who he wants to live with, and do his own thing, rather than fitting into what’s sort of the standard process,” says Karen Schwartz of her son, Adam.

Adam, who has non-verbal autism, joined Hireup in March this year. That’s when he met Trent. This is their story.  

About Hireup

For too long, people with disability have had to accept care and support on someone else’s terms. Hireup is changing that by giving people with disability and disability support workers the tools to find each other based on location, appropriate skills and common interests. Through a secure online platform, Hireup provides people with disability the tools to find, hire and manage support workers that fit their needs and share their interests. It connects people with disability and support workers directly, allowing individuals to take control of their own supports in a way that has previously never been an option in Australia.

Through connecting people directly, the Hireup model is more efficient and cost-effective. It comes in well under the NDIS set hourly rate and saves participants between $6 and $19 on every hour of support. Since it was launched in January 2015, Hireup has collectively saved its users over $4 million by comparison to the NDIS set hourly rate, which is additional money participants can use for additional care and support, therapy and equipment.

Hireup has over 18,000 people signed up to the platform from across Australia and has generated more than 5,000 new connections between people with disability and support workers on the platform.