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Debate, Think Autism Sydney 2025
Rebecca McCash and Christina Chun disagreed over grants, trade and autistic enterprise
In short
At Think Autism Sydney in May 2025, Rebecca McCash of FutureTech said a business that already trades still needs money to scale. Christina Chun held that trading defines a social enterprise, and the conference became the test case.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
One panellist’s ask of government was short. Programs that help people think about where they might work within a business are plentiful, the panellist said at Think Autism Sydney in May 2025, but there is nothing tangible attached to them. “We need to be supported financially to go on these pathways.” The request opened a disagreement on the panel about whether an autistic founder who asks for money is still an entrepreneur at all.
Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, put that question to the panel directly, asking “if we are asking for funding, are we still entrepreneurs?” Then he turned to Christina Chun of Social Enterprise Australia for a definition.
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Sources the story draws on
- National Autism Strategy 2025-2031: First Action Plan 2025-2026 (opens in a new tab), Department of Social Services, Australian Government
- Social Enterprise Certification: Guidance Notes and Standards (opens in a new tab), Social Traders
More from Think Autism Sydney 2025
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5 minutes 9 seconds, captioned Sharon Zivkovic said autistic founders belong to the older meaning of social entrepreneurship Dr Sharon Zivkovic, Christina Chun At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, Dr Sharon Zivkovic separated autistic social entrepreneurship from the mainstream social enterprise model. Christina Chun said her own sector did not actively think about autistic entrepreneurship. -
2 minutes, captioned When employment shuts autistic people out, building a business becomes the pathway Kyriakos Gold, Zoe Atterbury At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, the panel on autistic entrepreneurship treated self employment as a response to inaccessible workplaces, and a panellist said she wanted children to see that it was possible. - 3 minutes 25 seconds, captioned The unwritten rules of business, and the workarounds autistic founders build around them Rebecca McCash, Kyriakos Gold and 1 more At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, Rebecca McCash said the hard part of her enterprise was the nuance outside it. Christina Chun credited neurotypical advisers, and Kyriakos Gold described using AI and mimicry.
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3 minutes 31 seconds, captioned Sharon Zivkovic said older autistic people free of masking should lead Dr Sharon Zivkovic, Zoe Atterbury At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, Dr Sharon Zivkovic said she would no longer mask for anyone, and argued that autistic elders free of job worries should push for a society where young people do not have to. - 2 minutes 48 seconds, captioned Christina Chun said funders keep backing the people they already fund Christina Chun At Think Autism Sydney in May 2025, Christina Chun described a funding system that runs on social cues and rewards incumbents. A fellow panellist said the first barrier is the grant application itself.
- 4 minutes 32 seconds, captioned Sharon Zivkovic built a founder program when none met the autism strategy’s principles Dr Sharon Zivkovic, Rebecca McCash At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, Dr Sharon Zivkovic said the national strategy’s action plan promised to evaluate support for entrepreneurs, and that the programs on offer still asked autistic founders to predict.