Anthony Porter was on disability support and never thought he would be able to work. now, he is working full-time at a social enterprise in Melbourne that embraces neurodiversity, completely changing his entire life. Australian Spatial Analytics is headquartered in Brisbane but wants to employ 1,000 workers like Anthony across Australia and help them transition to mainstream companies.
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00:00At 25, Anthony Porter is a lead data analyst.
00:07He's working on one of many big data government contracts.
00:11I manage a lot of projects and I work with clients and I train the team
00:18and I also manage a few analysts here, which involves, again, their training, also their development.
00:28He's had this job for three years. It was actually his first job.
00:33Before it, he was on the disability support pension.
00:37I was having a lot of struggles with mental health, specifically my anxiety.
00:42I could rarely ever leave the house and I had trouble communicating with people
00:47and it really wasn't possible for me to work.
00:50But that was all before he met Geoff Smith.
00:52Anthony got the job as a junior data analyst and honestly, from day one, he has thrived.
00:58It is unbelievable to watch him not only come to work each day,
01:04but start to exercise, ride his bicycle, start to make friends and relationships.
01:09Geoff has been the CEO of Australian Spatial Analytics, or ASA, since its launch in 2020.
01:16It's been four years now and ASA is one of the largest social enterprises in the country.
01:21We've employed more than 200 young staff who may otherwise be unemployed.
01:26There's a bit of a myth out there that autistic people are quiet
01:31and don't particularly want to advocate for themselves.
01:34We have found the exact opposite.
01:36And Geoff is harbouring an unusual long-term goal for a CEO.
01:41He wants to be out of the job.
01:43We would love over time that our analysts could transition their employment to our customers,
01:50but before then, let's try and employ 1,000 people.
01:54I love helping people and helping people with similar struggles that I've had
01:59and helping them develop technically and personally has been a really great part of my job.