A guide written by Scott Standifer, clinical associate professor in the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri, will help change that. The guide mainly addresses employment issues for people who have little or no communication skills, but “…what works for them should also be relevant for people with Asperger’s,” he said.

Standifer had previously helped write a guide called “The Handbook of Disabilities,” but realized it contained a lack of information on adults with autism spectrum disorders and their struggles in the workplace and so he wrote this one, “Adult Autism and Employment: A Guide for Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals.” It mainly provides information for vocational rehabilitation agencies.

“Ultimately, the goal is to help the folks with autism get jobs and live out in the community,” Standifer said. “These folks want to work, and it’s our job to help them achieve that.”

Read the original article here.

One Write, a company that supplies churches with customized envelopes, software and accounting forms, recently developed the Cyrano Communicator, a software application that works with the HP iPAQ Mobile Media Companion. With an embedded HP Photosmart camera, the user can take photos of objects and can even attach prerecorded phases to the photos.

One person benefiting from the Cyrano Communicator is Alyson Brown, 22. Although she doesn’t speak and only reads a few words, she works two mornings a week at a Lexington, Kentucky dental office and will soon be expanding her work week to four mornings.

Using Cyrano Communicator software, coworkers arrange on the screen photographs of Aly doing certain tasks in the order in which they need to be done. In turn, Aly takes photographs of things she wants to point out to her coworkers.

It was because of a suggestion by Ray Schmidt, vice president of One Write, that the Cyrano Communicator was developed. Ray’s son has autism and for years Schmidt had worked with him on the HP iPAQ Pocket PC. However, his son didn’t recognize many of the icons, so Schmidt had to replace them with photographs, a cumbersome task. He suggested One Write incorporate the features he needed into a simple-to-use product.

Now the product is helping Aly and others have more success at work and less dependence on their work coaches.

Find out more about the Cyrano Communicator…read the original article here.

John is 24 years old. He lives in Austin, Texas with his mom, dad, sister, brother, and dog. John finished high school in 2007 and now spends his time having fun and helping people. His favorite job is washing sheets because he gets paid. He also helps his mom around the house and in the community. For exercise, John likes to walk, bike ride, and roller skate. He also enjoys the computer, sports on TV, and movies. John is nonverbal but communicates pretty well by writing and typing.

Men with Mops, the result of a brainstorming session between the parent of a man with autism and the Rutgers’ Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center for the Disabled, only hires part-time autistic workers who are paid minimum wage for their work, which includes cleaning, shoveling snow and mowing lawns. According to the original article, the company now has about 80 customers and is manned by 23 men with mostly severe disabilities. Each worker is accompanied by a job coach at all times.

Read the original article by Michael Rispoli here.

Five years before Nancy Henn graduated from high school, her parents initiated a transition plan for her which included four years of work in the community in order to help her develop the skills she needed for a real job in the real world. Marilyn Henn writes that “one of the biggest mistakes made in preparing individuals with disabilities for the workaday world is that of starting too late. The time to prepare the student for the transition from school to employment in the community is while the student is still in school, not after he or she graduates.” In the article, she points out that while people with disabilities spend 17-22 years in school, they spend 40 plus years as adults.

Essentially nonverbal except for a few words, gestures, and some sign language, Nancy tests in the lower 10% of all those with autism. She sometimes has tantrums, which have involved kicking, screaming, biting, pica, and self-injurious behavior including jumping out of a second-story window.

Nevertheless, she works 40 hours a week, thanks to the support of a full-time behavior support specialist/job coach that she pays for from her work earnings, which allows her the dignity of paying for what she needs to be successful and “removes the argument that long-term on-going supports are not affordable.”

When Nancy was still a high school student, Kent State University’s Cooperative Transition Services Program placed her in the Kent State library, tasked with picking up books left on tables and in cubicles. She started out working only one hour per day, one to two days a week, but soon she was working five days a week.

A year before Nancy graduated from high school, her parents started hunting for a paid job in the community.  Mrs. Henn writes, “We felt this was a must, because statistics show that if a person with a disability seeking work upon graduation does not have that job before he or she graduates, that person only has a 20% chance of becoming employed after graduation when the supports are no longer mandatory.”

Nancy’s parents went through the Rehabilitation Services Commission/Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, but subcontracted the actual job find work to Rachel, a Kent State graduate student in the Center for Innovation in Transition and Employment. who contacted them weekly. After approximately nine months, Nancy began work as a mail clerk/messenger while still in school.

Not only is Nancy employed, she lives in her own home with three other young ladies with different disabilities in a “Family Consortium” model of supervised group living.

In 1999, Nancy was the national “Personal Achievement” award winner for The Association for Persons in Supported Employment (A.P.S.E.), and in 2003 she won the national “Outstanding Individual with Autism” award from the Autism Society of America (ASA). In addition to these awards, she “is considered the most productive microfilmer in her department, since she microfilms at rates that are two and one half times faster than her nearest non-disabled co-worker.”

Marilyn and Joe Henn currently share their experience with their daughter at presentations around the country.  Their upcoming speaking schedule is:

When he was 16 we started considering what employment he may enjoy and be successful in. We looked at his strengths and then looked at jobs where he could use his strengths. He always likes going to hotels and pushing the luggage carts so we thought a hotel bell boy would be a good job for him. We worked on lifting heavier items and pulling carts, etc.

When he was 17 we decided to approach hotels about employment. We made a resume just like anyone else would have. We had references, experience, education, etc. We feel it is important to present Nathan just as any employee would present themselves. We did not go to employers asking for favors. We just asked for an interview and wanted them to see Nathan as someone who could be productive.

The first hotel I called I spoke with the HR director and explained we would like Nathan to be considered for employment as a bell boy at the hotel. An interview was arranged and Nathan, his current teacher/job coach to be, and us, his parents, met with the hotel staff. We presented his resume and they presented the various job possibilities. We met with the HR director, general manager and the supervisors of various depts. You may call it luck, but they were very accepting of Nathan and wanted to “make it work”.

Nathan went to the hotel once a week for an hour or so for about a month just walking through the work areas of various jobs. He was accompanied by the HR director and job coach and myself. The employer was very aware of his strengths and the job expectations so she knew where the best match would be. After a month it was decided that the position as a Steward in the kitchen would be Nathan’s best fit.

The job coach was one of Nathan’s current teachers/ABA therapists and he went to the hotel without Nathan and was trained and oriented so he could better assist Nathan on the job. Nathan began working as a Steward very gradual. At first he went only one day a week for an hour and then increased the time to about 3 hours and then added a day and now, 2 1/2 years later, is working 4-5 days a week for about 4-6 hours a day. There are about 3 major parts of the stewarding job so he learned them one at a time. He is now learning to be more independent in all areas of his job. The job coach is needed to keep Nathan on task and to keep him safe. He may run off or leave the work area. He also may sit, lie on the floor if he is wanting to avoid work, or for attention, etc. We have a very specific behavior plan we use at the hotel and at home. Nathan will most likely always need a job coach to keep him safe.

We approached DARS when Nathan first got his job to ask about job coaching. He did qualify for services but they said they could not get him a job coach that would be trained to work with him. So we kept our current teacher/job coach who already was trained. Also, DARS services are very short term and Nathan will need life long services. This is something I have discussed with DARS in relation to those with autism and how the State agencies will need to modify services to work for those who need them long term.

In October 2008 Nathan was awarded the Employee of the Year Award from the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities and the hotel he works for was given the Employer of the Year Award. His success has come from strictly following a behavior program and ABA program as well as presenting him as a capable person who can be productive. Also we have found an employer that sees him as a true valuable member of their team.

The advice I would give is no matter how involved your child is, they can find a place to work that they will enjoy. And do not wait around and rely on government agencies to get our children jobs and job coaches but to do it yourself. And for sure always show how they can be productive and valuable to the employer.

A favorite quote of mine came from the hotel HR director when I was thanking her for employing Nathan.
She said, “We have 21 languages spoken here and his is just another.” What an accepting way to look at the behaviors of those who are “different.” “