‘Teenagers With Autism: Want a Job?’
April 3rd, 2009From U.S. News & World Report:
As children with autism are growing up and looking to the future, innovative programs are popping up around the country to help them move from high school to adult life.
The aim: give them the chance to go to work, go to college, or even start a business rather than collecting disability benefits and being limited to a sheltered workshop.
Some options include:
- “Supportive and Customized Employment,” in which school systems and state vocational rehabilitation programs work together to help teenagers move into the workforce while still in high school.
- “Employment First” programs which help shift the priorities of social service agencies so that the first step is placing people in a paid job in a regular workplace rather than collecting disability benefits.
- Resource ownership, in which job-training funds and Social Security work incentives are used to buy tools or equipment that a person with a disability will then use on the job.
- Small business ownership.
How 1 Autistic Young Man Runs a Business — U.S. News and World Report. A young man with autism and Down syndrome runs Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn in Louisburg, Kan., with the help of his parents and five part-time employees.
(U.S. News & World Report photo)
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April 4th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Joe is truly an inspiration to many families here in Kansas City. His family provided Kettle Korn for 7,000 participants at the Down Syndrome Guild walk in 2008 and for the 2000 attendees at the NDSC convention when it was here in 2007. They speak regularly with other parents and disability groups about how to set up a business and support people with disabilities in being employed. I hope Joe’s educational professionals who deemed him “unemployable” are watching closely and taking notes! If you live near KC I highly recommend you book them for one of your events: http://www.poppinjoes.com/