Follow-up Interviews with Participants and Mentors from the 2013 Future Leaders’ Program

The Future Leaders’ Program was a small pilot program that allowed 23 young adults on the autism spectrum aged 18 to 30 years to better engage with and participate in the 2013 Asia Pacific Autism Conference in Adelaide. It also included eight mentors who were adults over 30 years on the spectrum.

It was proposed to undertake a follow-up evaluation with the 2013 Future Leaders alumni. In-depth interviews were conducted with qualitative data for analysis. It was envisaged that this evaluation would result in case studies showcasing the achievements of the original Future Leaders’ Program participants and providing a record of their outcomes. The report also includes key lessons learned, how the Future Leaders’ Program assisted participants with success since the program, and their thoughts about potential future programs. These insights could then potentially be used to help inform the development of the concept for a new leadership program that builds on what the Future Leaders’ Program did well and benefits from lessons on what could have been done better.

The original version of this evaluation report was completed in January 2017. The 2013 Future Leaders graduates were re-contacted in January 2018 and given the opportunity to share some of their more recent achievements.

Download Final Report