Specialisterne (The Specialists) is a Danish social innovator company using the characteristics of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as competitive advantages in the business market.
Specialisterne provide services such as software testing, quality control and data conversion for business leading companies in Denmark. In addition Specialisterne assess and train people with ASD to meet the requirements of the business sector.
The company provides a working environment where it is ‘normal’ to have ASD and where the role of the management and staff is to create the best possible working environment for the employees with ASD.
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The son of founder Thorkil Sonne was given the diagnosis “infantile autism, normal intelligence” at age 3. Thorkil became president of a local chapter of Autism Denmark for three years where he learned that people with ASD seldom have a chance to use their special skills in the labour market.
After 15 years working with IT within telecommunication companies Thorkil knew the value of the skills he saw in people with ASD.
Thanks to the support of his family Thorkil was able to start up Specialisterne based on a loan in their house and his family’s belief in his vision.
Specialisterne has 50+ employees of which approximately 75% have a diagnosis within the Autism Spectrum. The head office are in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Enabling Centre Services include training programs to access and build up personal, social and professional skills for people with ASD – no formal education or job experiences are expected.
LEGO Mindstorms robot technology is used as a tool to detect the strengths, the motivation and the development opportunities of the individual with ASD.
Business Centre Services include software tests, quality control, documentation and data entries with a high attention to details and accuracy for Danish and international customers like TDC, Grundfos, KMD, CSC, Microsoft and Oracle.
Academy Centre Services focus on transferring knowledge on how to turn disabilities into abilities. The services are speeches, workshops and courses based on the method of positive thinking called The Dandelion Model.
In December 2008, Thorkil Sonne donated all shares of Specialisterne to the Specialist People Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Sonne.
In September 2009, Specialisterne started a school where youth with ASD could get an education with focus on social development and interaction with its offices. The school is funded with help from the Lego Foundation and the Danish Ministry of Education.
In August 2010 Specialisterne opened in Scotland with David Farrell-Shaw as General Manager. The Scottish company is a subsidiary of social enterprise company Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS), funded by £700,000 from the Scottish government, the project has also received £407,036 from the Big Lottery Fund and £30,000 from Glasgow City Council. [source BBC]
In October 2010, assisted by funding support from a European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme called the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme (project number 2010-1-IS1-LEO05-00579), a project began to link Scotland, Denmark, Germany and Iceland. The Icelandic offering went live in January 2011.
Specialisterne has been presented with:
Thorkil Sonne has been presented with: