jobs4autism.com » Young Adult

Autistic Person Who loves Photography hopes one day to be a professional.

tdomf_7a1de — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:24:42 +0000

My name is Craig Thomson I suffer from Aspergers syndrome which is a form of autism.

Autism is a life-long Social and developmental disorder. However I have never let it hinder me from pursuing my obsession for photography.

Although I have problems doing the most simple of tasks like crossing the road, tying my shoe laces and dealing with social situations I find photography very uncomplicated and I love it.

I used to go for walks down the fields near my mum and dads house. I found this was my place to escape the social world as it was miles of deserted farmland. This was a regular thing for me to do from the age of 8. I spent most of my life in and around nature.

Around the age of 19 I figured I would start taking pictures of the wildlife and sights I found in the fields near my house. I had fun trying to sneak up on them and get pictures.

I started experimenting with photography as a hobby at the age of 19 where I got my first camera which was a totally manual vivitar v3800N SLR film camera. Later I got a Nikon D40 digital SLR.

I have been passionate about it ever since. I am now 25 and mainly focus on wildlife and landscape photography.

Due to my condition I have “Sensory sensitivity” so I see the world around me differently than others, I hope that my pictures reflect how a person with autism see’s the world around them.

Now I want to turn my hobby into a profession I’d love to be a professional photographer.

I recently posted a video about wanting to be a professional photographer on you tube and I’ve had a lot of response from it so far. Here it is…

Emory Autism Center – Helping Adults with Autism “Get a Life”

Barbara — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:57:45 +0000

Social nuances that many of us take for granted are a challenge for adults with autism and can be barriers to employment and even friendship. Many, such as Andrew Grimes, develop solitary hobbies like drawing, journaling and solving puzzles. Emory Autism Center Adult Services Program has a simple goal: to help adults with an autism spectrum disorder like Andrew “get a life.”

As part of the “Get a Life” program, the Emory Autism Resource Center (EARC) pairs adults with autism with volunteers from the community matched by age and interest. The volunteers, many of whom are Emory students, commit to spending at least 2 hours a week for a minimum of six months with their participant playing sports, watching movies, volunteering with a community organization or just hanging out.

To read more about Andrew, the “Get a Life” program, and other Adult Community Assistance programs sponsored by the center, click here: Emory Autism Resource Center.

JJ’s List – An Autism Resource

Barbara — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:12:49 +0000

“Where people with disabilities review businesses and services.” That, in a nutshell, is JJ’s List.

The mother of a teenage son with autism, it was while documentary producer JJ Hanley was working on “Refrigerator Mothers”, an award-winner about mothers of children with autism, that she became aware of the difficulties and barriers people with disabilities face upon completion of high school. Concerned about the longterm economic and social futures of all people with disabilities, Hanley started JJ’s List.

The site rates how well businesses in the Chicago area accomodate consumers with disabilities by offering a chance for consumers, or their families, to write reviews about their experiences. The user-generated platform also allows business to communicate directly with patrons.

JJ’s List is a volunteer-driven organization funded by donors. Hanley hopes to raise enough to create a national service eventually.

To go to JJ’s List, click here. To read more about the program, click here and here for the original articles.

Adult Autism & Employment – a guide and a conference from MU

Barbara — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:38:36 +0000

Although the University of Missouri’s Disability Policy & Studies office doesn’t provide direct services to persons with disabilities, its many projects provide advice, training, and support to agencies and groups that do.

Mostly they provide advice and continuing education to counselors and service providers at agencies in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, but thanks to a new guide designed to help disability service providers do a better job and to Autism Works, an upcoming national conference on autism & employment, the rest of the country is now able to benefit from their studies.

Adult Autism & Employment: A guide for vocat ional rehabilitation professionals, written by MU School of Health Professions clinical associate professor Scott Standifer, suggests how to accommodate adults on the autism spectrum during employment services and in the workplace.

“Until now, there hasn’t been a resource available to employment service providers that is specific to autism and provides recommendations to help with the features of this growing population,” Standifer says. “This guide provides specific advice on a variety of employment issues for adults with ASD and, ultimately, helps the counselors find jobs for their clients.”

Autism Works will be Thursday & Friday, March 3 & 4, 2011, at the Sheraton Westport Hotel in St. Louis, MO. The conference will bring together the disability employment services community (vocational rehabilitation) and autism community to learn from each other and improve employment options for adults with autism. Topics will include: understanding the vocational rehabilitation (VR) process, what VR counselors need to know about autism, job development and work-place supports, funding possibilities for employment supports, and insights from working youth with autism.

Besides bridging the gap between vocational rehabilitation, one of the goals of the conference is to bring new voices into the discussion. Speakers will include Dan Tedesco, father of a child with autism and software developer who is busy building autism-specific iPhone applications; Joan Kester who provides technical assistance for voc rehab agencies and who is busy working on her dissertation on building communities of practice at George Washington University; Paul Andrew, who works for an agency that certifies disability employment service providers internationally, to assure they are doing person-centered, professional work; and Zosia Zaks via video link, a trained vocational rehabilitation counselor who has autism. As Standifer says, “She embodies the very connection we are trying to make with this conference.”

For more information on the Autism Works conference, go here: http://dps.missouri.edu/Autism/Announcement01.html

Autism Job Placement: An Autism Resource

Barbara — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:49:12 +0000

Natural Learning Concepts manufactures materials for autism, speech and cognitive delays. Founders Jene Aviram and Joselyn Blum say the company’s goal is “to increase language and communication skills of children who fall on the autistic spectrum or have development delays while showing them how much fun it is to do so.”

All of the illustrators they employ are on the autism spectrum, and that got them thinking, if we can do this, others can, too. So in 2007, Aviram and Blum launched a new resource to help those on the spectrum find employment: Autism Job Placement.

Their theory is “if you can get on-line, you can get a job!”

The site is set up in forum-style, where employers who are interested in quality of work, who are willing to look beyond interview or interpersonal skills to a potential employee’s unique skills and abilities, post job openings.

Potential employees post information about themselves and about the type of job they’re seeking. Both groups can look over what has been posted in hopes of a match in location, skills and interest.

For those employers who might have doubts about hiring someone on the spectrum, basic information is offered about autism, including this list:

Good reasons to hire people with autism and Asperger’s
- Many have the ability to focus intently on projects.
- Others are very detailed and excel in any position requiring this skill.
- Some are excellent at finding imperfections and make top notch editors.
- With excellent research abilities, many make outstanding technical writers.
- Often they have a wealth of knowledge and have excellent computer skills.
- Some have excellent catalog and sorting skills.
- Others excel in routine work and never miss a beat.
- Typically people with autism are punctual, loyal and dedicated employees who prefer to remain in the same company for a long period of time.

This is a free service and it’s not limited to location. Please help spread the word!
Click here to go to the forum and get started posting jobs or job requests.

Finally figured it out late in life – an Asperger’s Job Search Story

tdomf_7a1de — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:17:58 +0000

My son is nearly 21yrs old and it is only recently that I’ve figured out that he could literally be the poster child for Asperger’s Syndrome (wonder if they need a model…). He just recently finished his 2nd year of college, and although he struggled greatly due to social problems in elementary school, we moved him from public to private school where the problems decreased a bit, and his grades improved dramatically. I’m not saying that the social “strangeness” changed. Let’s face it, kids with Asperger’s are always the oddball and usually the target of bullies.
He was tested for ADD/ADHD, etc.. when he was younger, but it was during a time when all of the counselors just wanted to label every kid with ADHD and put them on a pill. I was once completely against medicating my children, but if they came out with a pill to treat Asperger’s tomorrow… I would be the first in line!
We’re now looking for a job. I say “we” because he’s now making me frustrated. He applied for jobs via walk-ins, he’s had a single job that lasted all of 3mos his entire life – but he knows what he’s doing. The fact that he took his friend, younger brother, and cousin along with him while asking for applications was probably the first reason that any applications that he filled out were filed in the “circular bin”. The next knock against him was being dressed in heavy metal tee-shirts and putting no effort into his appearance prior to going out to ask for applications… and we’re not even going to talk about how long it took me to get it through his head that the employers are not obligated to call, interview him or tell him that they’ve decided on another applicant.
Talking on the telephone is another hurdle. Time and time again he has been told that the first thing he should do is introduce himself – it doesn’t matter if it is the person he is looking to speak with or the Pope on the other end of the phone, the first words out of his mouth should be “Hello, my name is….”. I cringe and make sure I’m not holding anything heavy to throw across the room because I can bank on the first words out of his mouth being “Who’s this” – after he is the one that dialed the call!
I am currently looking for information as to how to go about having him tested now that he is older. It was a really touchy situation trying to explain that I think he has a problem, but I was able to get him to agree to seeing people that could help him because they would have resources on finding him a suitable job. This really needs to happen, I don’t like the idea of him being labeled, but it is the only way to get him the services that are needed to help him.
It is so difficult being the parent of a grown child with this problem – especially after both of us have suffered through the battle of his social quirkiness for so long already. There is no way to give him constructive criticism without it sounding like I am bashing him, but as bright as he is (and he is very intelligent), he just does not have the capacity to realize that some of his behaviors and the things that he says are at times inappropriate, and now that he is older, I can honestly say that it sometimes makes him sound like he’s a real jerk.
If I can pass anything on from my experiences, it would be to allow your child to be labeled at a young age – these children can usually function on a normal to above average intelligence level and will not need special classrooms. However, the teacher will be empowered by knowing how to deal with things and it will also be helpful if the students in the childs’ classrooms are also educated on the condition because they will be less likely to tease a child if they know that there is a reason why the child sometimes does things differently and will be less inclined to ostracize your child.