How staff member Poppy put on fundraising gig for Autism Together
September 28, 2026
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Recently, our Training & Development team delivered a bespoke autism awareness training course for a large UK transport construction firm.
Octavius Infrastructure got in touch with our charity ahead of the start of works they are due to carry out near our Raby site in 2027. As the work should take around 12 months to complete, the company were keen to find out how the process may affect the people we support, and how they might limit any issues.
Producing a bespoke training course
Michelle Walklett, our Training & Development Manager, met with the firm and explained more about the sort of courses we can design and deliver around this. Octavius were very interested for their staff to learn more about autism and the impact their work could have on those we support.
For the one-day course, Octavius felt it was important for their managers from across the UK to attend the training at our Oak House head office. Michelle and Ash from the Learning & Development team lead the bespoke course, alongside Dean – one of our Experts by Experience. Being able to hear Dean’s first hand experiences of autism and how it can affect him, especially from a sensory point of view, was really appreciated by the team from Octavius.
Michelle said: “Dean joined us in delivering the course. He explained about his autism and the sensory differences he has, and how to support his hyper-sensitivity to noise and bright lights. Dean did an amazing job. Everyone thanked him at the end of the course and gave excellent feedback, too.”
Fantastic feedback
Indeed, there was some wonderful anonymous feedback left by those who undertook the course, with Dean particularly singled out for praise:
“Great training – lots of ideas of how we can better equip our sites and work for those with autism. Dean was an amazing part of the day – many thanks to him for his insight.”
“Thank you for a very informative session. A special thank you to Dean for sharing his thoughts, feelings, and experiences with autism.”
Meanwhile, Lee Rowbotham, Stakeholder & Social Value Advisor at Octavius Infrastructure, said: “Our site compound location will make us immediate neighbours with those living and working at the Autism Together Raby Hall site, so I am working closely with them to understand the impact of our work.
“The bespoke Autism Awareness For Construction Workers training course delivered to the M53 project team, supply chain contractors and colleagues from different regions around the country, really helped us to understand autism better and how we could make our sites, communication and everyday practices more understanding, accessible and inclusive.”
• If your organisation would like bespoke autism training, Autism Together’s Training & Development team can help.
Click here to get in touch with the team via the form on our website.
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