The story about the video store in Pocatello hits home hard. Allow me to share a brief update.
As many of you know, my 21 year old son has Down syndrome. This is his last year in the public school system. The last three years he has been in their transition to work program. The program includes teaching work skills along with life skills. The students also work in the community a portion of the day. It's unpaid, with job coaches and lots of assistance. That all ends in about 6 weeks.
We (especially my wife) has been working on trying to figure out what comes next. We and our son - especially our son - want him to work in the community. He couldn't care less about the money. We couldn't care less about the money. He just wants to work. Our dream is to see him gainfully employed rather than attending an adult day program all week. Those programs are great for many people. But we are convinced our son is capable of more.
But finding employment is incredibly difficult. Not only because of the Down syndrome, but also because he has Type 1 diabetes and cannot have dairy. He is insulin dependent and wears an insulin pump. Sure, it's better than insulin injections, but it also means 15-20 minutes before eating anything we have to input the number of carbs into the pump controller (cell-phone size device). He absolutely needs assistance with that, and the vast majority of employers are not going to take on that responsibility - not in a million years. Heck, even some adult day programs for individuals with developmental disabilities we talked to said no.
Our son is also getting job search assistance from from the state of Ohio as part of their goal of gainful employment for all Ohioans to the extent possible. This has included assistance with his resume, interviewing skills, etc. They will also provide a job coach for a limited period of tine when someone finds a new job.
Well, guess what? Our son was hired by a well-known fast casual restaurant about 2 miles from our house! He has worked the past two Saturdays and loves it. The manager of the restaurant (~24 years old) is amazing. She told us she simply believes everyone deserves a shot, and corporate backs her up 100%. She has no family ties to anyone with a developmental disability that drives her to do this or anything similar. It's just who she is. Heck, she wasn't even all that thrilled about the job coach, as she wanted to train him herself. But, since my son is working under her assistant manager, she relented to the job coach for now.
But, it gets even crazier. It turns out the assistant manager is in school studying to be an intervention specialist (what used to be called a special education teacher). He's maybe 20 years old, and is just fantastic. No trepidation or hesitation - just willing to give my son a shot. Our son is now part of a team of mostly young adults around his age. Right now he is cleaning tables, chairs and booths in the dining room. They will add more tasks as he's ready. Last Saturday his teacher from the transition to work program (another extraordinary human being) just happened to stop my to pick-up dinner. I know she was very proud of our son.
When I picked our son up Saturday night and stood in the back watching him work (for $15 an hour) I had to fight like crazy to keep the tears from flowing. I had to resist the urge to hug every other person working there. I am incredibly proud of him, and immensely thankful of everyone who has helped him along his journey.
All I have ever asked for him is that other people are kind and given him a shot. Boy have so many people done that and more.
www.military.com
www.imdb.com
