Rachel Parker

she/her
Autistic Social Entrepreneur, Trustee and positive disruptor
The Frangipane Bakery, AVATAR – Autistic Voices Advocating Together for Autonomous Rights

Award category:

Cross-Sector Advocate

Rachel found out she is autistic at the age of 25 having faced ongoing challenges with her mental health whilst trying to pursue traditional education and employment.

Rachel now uses her experiences as motivation to create a fairer and more inclusive society for others than she has experienced. She believes the most effective change is led by those with lived experience, which is why speaking at events and contributing to policy and decision making is an important part of her social impact work.

Most recently, Rachel has taken on a mission to spread joy and support neurodivergent people into meaningful employment through providing training and baking gluten-free products. She has set up The Frangipane Bakery, a gluten-free bakery based in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. Rachel’s passionate work at the bakery hinges around two core beliefs, everyone deserves the dignity of a meaningful and worthwhile job regardless of their circumstances or background​ and people who require a gluten-free diet should be able to experience the same joy from food as everyone else. Through her work at the bakery she is aiming to close the disability employment gap in Berwickshire.

Her social impact work at the bakery is grounded in the social model of disability and includes community outreach work, not just direct support to individuals. As part of this, she led the creation of an art exhibition, which toured local festivals. “Untapped Potential” explored neurodivergent people’s experiences of employment and their vision for a neuroinclusive future, whilst also highlighting the skills and values employers are missing out on due to their (mis)perceptions of neurodivergence and disability.

Alongside her work at the bakery Rachel has supported the formation of, and is a founding trustee of a new charity, AVATAR (Autistic Voices Advocating Together for Autonomous Rights), the first Autistic People’s Organisation run by and for autistic adults in the Scottish Borders.

She was also delighted to graduate with a first class BSc (Hons) Environmental Science from the Open University after 12 years of perseverance, and be awarded Young Business Person of the Year and Social Enterprise of the Year 2023.

“Everyone would benefit, if society valued neurodiversity and our different thoughts and perceptions as much as ecologists value the biodiversity and different contributions of each plant and animal to create a thriving ecosystem!”

Q&A

Rachel Parker
Seek out support. You don’t need to do this on your own. This may be from peers, your existing network, people you meet through community volunteering, or people your network know, who could introduce you. All individuals in their careers will need support at some point, but this doesn’t mean that your needs to look like anyone else’s. Be picky, test out a range of different options and move on from any that aren’t working for you. Be sure to find support that fits with who you are, what you need and how you want to work. Don’t simply accept the support people assume you want and expect to provide because you think that’s ‘the only option’ or ‘what you’re supposed to do’.
I brought neurodivergent people together through Untapped Potential which also created the team who have gone on to found AVATAR, the first ever Autistic people’s organisation in the Scottish borders. The Frangipane Bakery’s art exhibition Untapped Potential has been viewed by over 2000 people across 6 exhibitions and has also started conversations with Scottish politicians and even the minister for business around the intersection between disability and self employment and entrepreneurship. By demonstrating an example for how basic business processes such as recruitment can be done differently, to be more accessible for neurodivergent people, this has led to much larger businesses and organisations adapting their practices and trialling the likes of optional video submissions as part of applications rather than the traditional default of a CV and cover letter.
Ultimately, the social impact work of the bakery would no longer be needed as everyone will have their individual needs met, not only in employment but in wider society in general. In the meantime, to create a thriving larger scale wholesale bakery production facility that can provide inspiration and examples of best practice for other employers to explore, copy and adapt so that more neurodivergent people can thrive and have the dignity of a meaningful and worthwhile job. I am keen to share my story and journey to becoming a social entrepreneur so that others can see what is possible and continue to strive for their dreams too. When one of my very first business advisors questioned how on earth I thought I could set up my own business when I can’t even manage to work for someone else, I struggled to find an example of someone like me to show that it was possible. I hope that sharing my story can provide that encouragement to others like me to stick at it and go after their ambitions.
Drinking hot chocolate, camping, wild swimming, ceilidhs
Going car camping with Nico (my dog), especially if we’re somewhere near water.
Dogs 100%
Other people’s assumptions and (mis)perceptions of what life is like as an autistic / neurodivergent / disabled person.
There are so many barriers in so many different forms, but so often they could be resolved if people with a wider variety of lived experiences (including neurodivergence and disability) were involved in decision making and delivery of projects/services.
"Rachel, a white woman with long brown curly hair and glasses wears a teal hoodie with The Frangipane Bakery’s gold whisk logo on the left breast as she smiles in front of a commercial oven. Image credit: Jason Baxter, South of Scotland Enterprise"

Areas of expertise

Accessibility, Business, Charity, social enterprise, Community, Cross Sector, Disability Advocacy, Employment, Equality, Food and drink

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Image credits: Amelia Pettman, Jason Baxter, South of Scotland Enterprise
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