AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me. Please click the link at the bottom of the page to read the full article).
With its bustling kitchen, the warm oranges and grays on the walls and the scent of cappuccino in the air, Sam’s Canterbury Cafe has the look and feel of any other coffee shop.
But the discreet signs positioned on each table at the North Baltimore cafe give away the difference: “Our service team includes six adults on the autism spectrum. We invite you to get to know them.”
Sam Myers weaves his way through the dining room tables to bus dishes and stock shelves.
Myers, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who is on the spectrum, goes about his responsibilities with precision and exacting detail. When he started at the cozy cafe, he worked only 15 minutes at a time. As he became more comfortable with the work, he began to add minutes. He now works up to two and a half hours.
That accommodation is necessary in Myers’ case to give him the chance to master different tasks — but few workplaces would offer it. That’s why his father opened the cafe.
Like other parents of adult children with autism and other developmental disabilities, Michael and Jennifer Myers had long anguished over how to forge a path for their son after he left school and many support services went away.
A generation ago, parents of children with disabilities pushed for protections in the school system. Today’s parents are pressing to integrate their children into jobs in health care, retail and information technology.
They are part of a burgeoning national movement, increasingly encouraged by state and federal government policies, to get more people with developmental disabilities into the workplace.
Some are pioneering their own solutions.
“We weren’t willing to leave it to chance,” said Michael Myers, who employs about 15 people at Sam’s Canterbury Cafe. He chose a location in the quiet Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood where their coffee shop would draw regulars, rather than tourists, and he made sure the walls were painted soothing colors.
“Our hope for Sam has always been and always will be for him to continue to grow and progress, so that he can live as independent and fulfilling a life as possible.”
The number of adults with disabilities who are employed in the general workforce is growing, but the population still suffers high rates of unemployment and underemployment. About 137,500 people with disabilities were employed year-round in Maryland in 2016, the most recent year for which U.S. Census data is available. Another 177,000 were not working despite in many cases an ability and willingness to work.
Advocates say the need to expand opportunities is growing more urgent. Over the next decade, an estimated 500,000 teens nationwide who have been diagnosed with some form of autism will age out of their schools, and lose access to the support services they provide. Thousands of them will be in Maryland.
State and federal policymakers are beginning to respond. Between now and 2020, Maryland will stop allowing employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
The state has developed an employment-first strategy to guide agencies to increase the number of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities working in competitive jobs. It includes steps such as providing training and technical assistance to schools so they can help young people move from high school to jobs.
Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration serves about 25,000 people with developmental and intellectual disabilities each year. It helps them find jobs, teaches life skills — money management, cooking dinner, taking a public bus to work — and troubleshoots problems in the workplace. Waiting for services are another 5,300 people who can’t live on their own without help.
The U.S. Department of Labor has created rules aimed at disrupting the school-to-segregated workshop pipeline by pressuring states to ensure students with disabilities are leaving schools ready to work and to provide targeted employment.
Some parents say their children are too vulnerable to be working in the general population, or require constant therapeutic support. And companies concerned about the bottom line worry that hiring people with disabilities — who might require accommodations — will may cost them time and money.
The Arc Baltimore trains clients to prepare surgical trays at hospitals, to work on janitorial and landscaping crews and to perform other marketable tasks.
Joanna Falcone, director of competitive employment for The Arc Baltimore, says people with autism and other disabilities have much to offer employers.
Falcone says parents starting businesses to employ their children show that policies and perceptions have not yet caught up with reality.
Still, advocates say, the community is seeing a radical shift. Employers are becoming more aware of the potential of people on the spectrum, technology is advancing, and the workers themselves are demanding equal pay and opportunities.
“We’re getting dramatically better at helping people understand the different skills and abilities,” said Leslie Long, a vice president of Autism Speaks.
Autism — a developmental disability that is caused by a mix of genetic and environmental factors — presents as a range of conditions, including repetitive behaviors and challenges with social skills and communication. About a third of people with autism do not speak (some of these communicate without words). About a third have IQs of 70 and lower.
Diagnoses of autism have more than doubled in the last 15 years, largely because awareness has increased.
Full Article: In Baltimore and beyond, parents are creating employment opportunities for adult children with autism
With its bustling kitchen, the warm oranges and grays on the walls and the scent of cappuccino in the air, Sam’s Canterbury Cafe has the look and feel of any other coffee shop.
But the discreet signs positioned on each table at the North Baltimore cafe give away the difference: “Our service team includes six adults on the autism spectrum. We invite you to get to know them.”
Sam Myers weaves his way through the dining room tables to bus dishes and stock shelves.
Myers, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who is on the spectrum, goes about his responsibilities with precision and exacting detail. When he started at the cozy cafe, he worked only 15 minutes at a time. As he became more comfortable with the work, he began to add minutes. He now works up to two and a half hours.
That accommodation is necessary in Myers’ case to give him the chance to master different tasks — but few workplaces would offer it. That’s why his father opened the cafe.
Like other parents of adult children with autism and other developmental disabilities, Michael and Jennifer Myers had long anguished over how to forge a path for their son after he left school and many support services went away.
A generation ago, parents of children with disabilities pushed for protections in the school system. Today’s parents are pressing to integrate their children into jobs in health care, retail and information technology.
They are part of a burgeoning national movement, increasingly encouraged by state and federal government policies, to get more people with developmental disabilities into the workplace.
Some are pioneering their own solutions.
“We weren’t willing to leave it to chance,” said Michael Myers, who employs about 15 people at Sam’s Canterbury Cafe. He chose a location in the quiet Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood where their coffee shop would draw regulars, rather than tourists, and he made sure the walls were painted soothing colors.
“Our hope for Sam has always been and always will be for him to continue to grow and progress, so that he can live as independent and fulfilling a life as possible.”
The number of adults with disabilities who are employed in the general workforce is growing, but the population still suffers high rates of unemployment and underemployment. About 137,500 people with disabilities were employed year-round in Maryland in 2016, the most recent year for which U.S. Census data is available. Another 177,000 were not working despite in many cases an ability and willingness to work.
Advocates say the need to expand opportunities is growing more urgent. Over the next decade, an estimated 500,000 teens nationwide who have been diagnosed with some form of autism will age out of their schools, and lose access to the support services they provide. Thousands of them will be in Maryland.
State and federal policymakers are beginning to respond. Between now and 2020, Maryland will stop allowing employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
The state has developed an employment-first strategy to guide agencies to increase the number of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities working in competitive jobs. It includes steps such as providing training and technical assistance to schools so they can help young people move from high school to jobs.
Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration serves about 25,000 people with developmental and intellectual disabilities each year. It helps them find jobs, teaches life skills — money management, cooking dinner, taking a public bus to work — and troubleshoots problems in the workplace. Waiting for services are another 5,300 people who can’t live on their own without help.
The U.S. Department of Labor has created rules aimed at disrupting the school-to-segregated workshop pipeline by pressuring states to ensure students with disabilities are leaving schools ready to work and to provide targeted employment.
Some parents say their children are too vulnerable to be working in the general population, or require constant therapeutic support. And companies concerned about the bottom line worry that hiring people with disabilities — who might require accommodations — will may cost them time and money.
The Arc Baltimore trains clients to prepare surgical trays at hospitals, to work on janitorial and landscaping crews and to perform other marketable tasks.
Joanna Falcone, director of competitive employment for The Arc Baltimore, says people with autism and other disabilities have much to offer employers.
Falcone says parents starting businesses to employ their children show that policies and perceptions have not yet caught up with reality.
Still, advocates say, the community is seeing a radical shift. Employers are becoming more aware of the potential of people on the spectrum, technology is advancing, and the workers themselves are demanding equal pay and opportunities.
“We’re getting dramatically better at helping people understand the different skills and abilities,” said Leslie Long, a vice president of Autism Speaks.
Autism — a developmental disability that is caused by a mix of genetic and environmental factors — presents as a range of conditions, including repetitive behaviors and challenges with social skills and communication. About a third of people with autism do not speak (some of these communicate without words). About a third have IQs of 70 and lower.
Diagnoses of autism have more than doubled in the last 15 years, largely because awareness has increased.
Full Article: In Baltimore and beyond, parents are creating employment opportunities for adult children with autism
