Specialisterne — Assessment-Based IT Careers for Autistic and Neurodivergent Adults

Thorkil Sonne founded Specialisterne in Copenhagen in February 2004, after his son was diagnosed with autism, aiming to turn traits often associated with autism — attention to detail, pattern recognition — into paid jobs, primarily in software testing and other IT roles.

The model replaces conventional interviews and CVs with assessment centres built around structured exercises, including Lego Mindstorms robotics tasks; selected candidates then receive weeks of paid training before being placed with partner employers, who in turn receive training on inclusive management. The Specialist People Foundation (established 2008, later renamed Specialisterne Foundation and now Square Foundation) licenses the model internationally; national operations now exist in Denmark, the US, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, Austria, Australia, Singapore and Italy, with partnerships in India, Czechia, Costa Rica, Poland, Argentina and China.

The organisation estimates it has generated roughly 10,000 jobs for autistic and neurodivergent adults since 2004; corporate partners include SAP's 'Autism at Work' programme (more than 160 hires across 13 countries since 2013) and HP's Dandelion Programme (11 hires in an early cohort), with past support from EU programmes such as Leonardo da Vinci, Progress and the European Social Fund.

The figures reported — including the cumulative jobs total and the stated goal of '1 million jobs by 2030' — are self-reported by the Specialisterne network rather than independently audited, and country-level franchises vary widely in scale and documentation: some rest on large, well-documented corporate partnerships, others remain small local pilots without published outcome data.