Agnes Abelsen On Building Community And Inclusive Travel Experiences For Neurodiverse Australians

Agnes Abelsen is Founder of Travengers AU, Australia’s leading autism travel company.

Travengers creates inclusive travel experiences for young neurodivergent adults, and has so far organised over 500 social events in person and online, and over 60 trips in Australia and overseas. Agnes has been featured on ABC, received funding from UnTours Foundation and Expedia, and has been recognised as a global change-maker in accessible tourism by global magazine Condé Nast Traveller.

Drawing from her background as a disability nurse and inspired by her autistic sister, Agnes established Travengers to empower young adults with a hidden disability through social travel, much like Contiki, with support.

Originally a disability nurse, Agnes moved from Norway to Australia, and with 13 years of experience in the disability sector as well as personal experience, she is now an award-winning entrepreneur with a passion for acceptance and social inclusion for neurodivergent people.

Agnes discusses the importance of meaningful accessibility and how this leads to equitable outcomes for neurodiverse people, and why purpose led businesses should design solutions to inspire and motivate society to prioritise inclusion.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Indio Myles] - To start off, could you please share a bit about your background and what led to your work in social enterprise?

[Agnes Abelsen] - The journey starts from when I was young, I grew up on an island in the North of Norway with my Godfather with Down’s Syndrome. I ended up studying disability nursing, and when I was studying, my younger sister was diagnosed with autism. She's the best, she's funny, clever, and talented, but she had always been misunderstood, struggling socially and at school. She was bullied even by teachers, and so I became passionate about supporting young people like her with a hidden disability. Over the years I worked with other young people like her, young people who were lonely and falling between the cracks of mainstream and other disability groups, people who couldn't find anywhere to belong.

Six years ago, I moved to Australia to work in the disability space for a while, and when I came here, I recognised the same issues as there were in Norway, the same lack of support and groups. At the time I was working with a young man who wanted to have friends and to travel, so he asked me if we plan something together. I started looking around to see if I could find something for him, but none of the existing groups were fit for him. He was basically paying me as a support worker at the time to be his friend, and that concept just doesn't sit well with me. I became frustrated that there weren't any options available, and I thought about it for a while and realised I couldn't complain that something didn't exist if I wasn't willing to do anything about it myself. But I didn't know anything about business or social enterprise; I didn't have any parents, family or friends who were in business. I was scared to be honest, and I understood I had to do a lot of work on myself and explore how to set up a company, but I made a commitment to make a change.

As Founder and CEO of Travengers AU, can you share more about this organisation’s purpose, activities, and the impact it's creating?

We organise social groups and travel for young autistic adults around Australia. We have weekly social events in Sydney and Melbourne as well as a virtual travel group online. At the social events, we do things like game rooms or hikes, arts and crafts, and karaoke. Then we also organise Contiki like tours around Australia and overseas catered towards our group members and their wants and needs. We've been to Cairns, Kangaroo Island, Perth, and even London. We were recently in Japan, but Travengers is so much more than just travel.

For our travellers it's creating opportunities many of them thought they would never have but wanted. It's bringing like-minded people together, many who previously had never even had a real friend or were bullied for many years.

It's an opportunity to do things with our family and to create real confidence and independence in life. We hope to be a stepping stone for our travellers so that they eventually don't need us anymore. They will have their own friends and be traveling independently, and that has a huge impact on their mental health as well. We see people who have never had these opportunities and they are struggling with anxiety or depression, but when they come to us, they belong somewhere. That's what we love about what we do, and on the way, we meet lots of people and travellers in different industries (especially tourism). Since starting this, I wanted to have a ripple effect of creating awareness and understanding of people with a hidden disability and those who are autistic or neurodivergent.

What common misconceptions around neurodivergence have you encountered and how can people or organisations be more inclusive of this community in their activities?

There are a lot of misconceptions. One thing that I would say is new now is everyone seems to think neurodivergent people never existed and suddenly there's a boom. They think suddenly we are diagnosing and now everyone is autistic or ADHD these days, but there has always been neurodivergent people. Because of a lack of information people haven't been diagnosed, so people have been struggling behind the scenes without people knowing why they're struggling or even knowing themselves. For example, girls weren't even included in the diagnosis criteria at the beginning, so autistic girls have been masking for years. Now that people are getting diagnosed, it seems like suddenly everyone's neurodivergent, but it makes sense.

Other than that, people think everyone who's autistic or neurodivergent are either just high or low functioning and that's it. But there are so many nuances and variations in between, it's not linear, it’s a spectrum. One person might be uncomfortable with one thing one day but okay the next, and this can also shift a lot. Another thing are the standards. People think autistic people are not able to work or they can only work in technology. Some think they only like routine, autistic people are gone children, or that they don't have empathy. Autistic people are some of the most empathetic people I know, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there.

In terms of how organisations can be more inclusive, it sounds simple (and that's because it is), but they can try to learn. There's so much information out there that's quite easy to learn about neurodivergence.

There are heaps of YouTube videos and advocacy on LinkedIn and Instagram, all you need to do is go and search for the tag, and watch a few videos (preferably not just a few, because there's obviously a lot). There is a lot of easily accessible information, and organisations can sign up to inclusive practice webinars or search for simple resources about neurodiversity and work. There's lots out there and generally practices can be helpful for anybody in an organisation, not just those who are neurodivergent. Practices can be anything from having flexible work hours or allowing people to work from home where they can control their own space and sensitivities. Generally, just giving an opportunity for people to express their needs without them needing to ask for it is helpful. These practices can be in the onboarding process, and again, it benefits neurotypical people too, so why not?

Where do you see opportunities to grow awareness around the Australian business for good movement?

I love the business for good movement, it's so important. With owning a company or even being employed at a company, there's a sense of responsibility. If you have the power to make a positive impact, then why wouldn't you? Regarding having more impact or growing awareness, I think that somehow infiltrating the mainstream organisations is the way to go.

Social impact organisations tend to gather just amongst themselves. I find it's a little bit like preaching to the choir. While it's amazing we’re able to support each other, to make an impact on the wider world of business it's important we also speak to businesses that aren't social enterprises or who aren’t currently creating a social impact.

I'm currently part of a large mainstream business group, and although it's not just for impact organisations, there's a lot of focus around our commitment(s) to impact. Having people who are social enterprise leaders in those groups automatically has an impact on others by making them think about how what we are doing is inspiring. They then realise to also do good they just have to look for ways they can have an impact as well, even if they're not a social enterprise.

What advice would you give to the entrepreneurs and changemakers who want to make a difference by beginning their impact journey?

For me, the most important thing in the beginning was to be clear on my why and how this work is important and connected to real outcomes. Basically, what's going to happen if I don't do this, and what's going to happen if I do this? I knew that would help drive me forward, even when it would become hard or if my motivation wasn't going to be there some days. Having that why in front and at the forefront of what I do helped me push through the hard times and days. Another thing is getting out there to network and start sharing what you're passionate about. Find people who get what you're trying to do and who may want to help. I was proactive in the beginning and scared to go out and share this stuff. My background was in disability nursing, so I'd never done an elevator pitch to someone. But I was able to find some amazing people early on who wanted to help and some of them are now on my advisory board and have been with me for four years. They were helping me connect with other people, it was valuable, and people are so supportive. I was grateful and I still am for the support I have had on this journey.

Finally, learning is crucial, I started off by doing a business course and accelerator program. I did both a combination of free and paid learning, but it was a worthwhile investment because otherwise it would have taken me years to understand everything I needed.

I got coaching early on as well, both personal and professional development. I didn't have heaps of money and I bootstrapped the business, but if I hadn't of done that I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I think worth investing in learning early on and to make sure you are continuously learning.

What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across creating a positive change?

One of my favourites is the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. It's not new, but it's one of my favourites. It's basically a little card with sunflowers on it that signals to people you have a hidden disability. The program is running in airports, airlines, museums, and shopping centres and people build an understanding of hidden disabilities and how they can support when someone is wearing the sunflower. It's created a community of people who proudly wear the sunflower, it's become this movement we’ve been part of, and it's been helpful for our travellers. I also love Yellow Ladybugs, that's another autistic led social enterprise for young women. Then there's Keeley’s Cause, all these social enterprises are supporting the autistic community.

To finish off, what books and resources would you recommend to our listeners?

If you want to learn more about neurodivergence, I recommend Unmasked by Ellie Middleton or Different, Not Less by Chloé Hayden. In terms of personal development, I did an NLP course early on that helped accelerate my personal development and become more fearless on this journey. At the moment I'm learning about meditation practices through reading Dr. Joe Dispenza and the The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra.