Tech Firm Helps Teens with Autism Build Skills and Confidence

Sixteen-year-old Mason Dimock can focus intently on one subject, thinks visually and spatially, and is interested in technology — skills that have helped him land a summer job designing for a construction company.

He and nine other Salt Lake City teens were selected for a pilot project by NeuroVersity, a company that aims to give students with autism or similar disorders the training they’ll need for careers. The students work with 3-D imaging software called SketchUp Make, developed by Google.

Internship Can Boost Employment Rates for Students with Autism, Study Finds

A year-long internship program assisted students with autism find and maintain employment after high school, according to findings in a randomized study recently published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Young adults with autism spectrum disorders in the general population face unemployment rates of more than 80%; however, 87.5% of the trial participants of Project SEARCH, adapted for the study with ASD Supports, found employment
.

How High-Tech Jobs Could Solve Autism Unemployment Crisis

Since getting his first Game Boy at five years old, Aaron Winston knew he wanted to work in the gaming industry. But as he got older, the prospect seemed less and less likely: Winston, who is autistic, enrolled in community college but never made it to his first day of classes. "The social environment scared me off," he told The Verge. "I was too nervous.

Aaron Winston on the job.

"Three years later, however, Winston is thriving as a staff programmer at the nonPareil Institute in Dallas, TX. His first game, Space Ape, is available on iOS and Android, and Winston now looks forward to a future in the industry. "This is the right environment for me, and I want to stay at nonPareil for years," he said. "They gave me a career."

Start-Up Learns From Its Autistic Staff

Matt Sabady of Einstein Productions.

It's all about living, loving and working -- our new mission at YAI. And it's stories like this which are so reaffirming.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Renee Graber graduated from Marquette University nearly two years ago with a major in broadcast and electronic communication and a minor in film studies. After trying to find her footing in Los Angeles, she returned to Milwaukee where she found herself working with Matt Sabady, a 23-year-old with high-functioning autism, at a local Milwaukee start-up company - Einstein Productions - that is breaking the stigma regarding young adults with autism.
Einstein Productions, a nonprofit that opened its doors in September in The Shops of Grand Avenue, aims at assisting two sets of individuals in achieving their future careers in communication: recent graduates of Marquette University's Diederich College of Communication and high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Campaign Seeks to Improve Job Outlook for People with Disabilities

Maddie Hansen, left, chops onion,
while Sue Weber, a job coach,
looks on.

MANITOWOC, Wis. — Unemployment is a problem for people from all walks of life, but that’s especially true for those with disabilities. A new campaign in Manitowoc County called Jobs First! is seeking to close that employment gap.
The idea is to change employers’ perceptions of hiring people with disabilities “and at the same time raising the expectation on our students,” said David Koenig, Next Step UW and transition coordinator for the Manitowoc Public School District. Next Step UW is a program for 18- to 21-year-olds with developmental disabilities that is housed at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc.
“We’re trying to provide more training opportunities for these students that are tied directly into employers’ expectations,” Koenig said.

Workers with Disabilities Still Struggling

If you didn't catch the PBS Newshour's report on the Americans with Disabilities Act Thursday night, you may want to watch the video or read the transcript.


Now, unemployment as it affects people with disabilities.
That was the subject of much attention today on the 22nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act. During the recession, disabled workers were hit five times as hard as other workers when it came to losing their jobs. People with disabilities have also had more trouble finding new jobs during the recovery.

Now there's a new push from some leaders in politics and business to fight those trends, including by the new chairman of the National Governors Association, Delaware's Jack Markell, who says he plans to make this his signature issue.
Well, we talk now to two individuals closely involved with all these efforts. Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, he is the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. And Jill Houghton, she's the executive director of the non-profit U.S. Business Leadership Network.

22 Years Later, Time to Get Serious About Jobs

Proud to share a post by our CEO Stephen Freeman, which appears on Huffington Post.

Why is the workplace still inaccessible to so many people with disabilities 22 years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
This bipartisan legislation held so much promise. Its authors and those of us in the field had visions of doors to employment flying open for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, that promise has only been partially realized. Employment for people with disabilities is lower today than it was before the passage of the ADA. As of June 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 32 percent of working age people with disabilities were in the labor force, and only about 27.6 percent were actually working.
Despite the statistics, I am hopeful that we are finally ready to get serious about the power of people with disabilities to enrich the workplace.

A Call to Focus on Finding Jobs for People with Disabilities

Robert Lambert, a blind worker at
Blind Industries and Services of
Maryland, carries fabric that
has been cut into pieces for
military uniforms in Baltimore, M.D.

As the United States prepares to observe the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Thursday, it's tempting to say, "hold the celebration." That's because for those with disabilities, the employment picture has, sadly, not improved since the ADA was signed into law 22 years ago.
In fact, during the recent recession, it deteriorated five times as badly as did employment for the rest of American workers. While the non-disability workforce shrank by about 2 percent, for people with disabilities, the number working fell by over 10 percent. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the picture has remained grim as the economy has begun its recovery: While 3 million new jobs were added to the able-bodied work force, workers with disabilities have seen their ranks shrink further.

Disability Should Not Be a Deterrent to Job Market

Recently, entertainment personality Jack Osbourne said he lost a job on a reality show because he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

As a professional who knows the value that people with disabilities in the workplace can bring, the news was stunning, sad and alarming. It also was proof that too many employers today underestimate the potential effectiveness of an employee with a disability.

Judge Rules Asperger's Prevents Woman From Holding Job and Repaying Student Loans

A bankruptcy judge has ruled in favor of a Maryland resident who claimed she could not repay her student loans because her Asperger’s syndrome prevents her from holding a job.
Carol Todd, who attended the University of Baltimore School of Law in the 1990s before dropping out, successfully made the case that her disability prevented her from repaying the nearly $340,000 she owed in student loans.