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Lessons Learned – Tackling the Unemployment Crisis for Adults with Asperger’s
Transitioning into adulthood encompasses a wide array of new experiences: The emotional changes involved if an individual is leaving home, the cognitive challenges of navigating how the world operates, the acquisition of independent living skills, and managing new relationships– both romantic and...
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The Educated and Jobless
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in political science, Steven* turned his attention toward a job in public policy. He figured that his knowledge of government, interest in research, and 3.8 GPA would make it easy to find an entry-level position. Instead, he discovered a competitive field where...
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Tackling the Unemployment Crisis for Adults with Asperger Syndrome
Those of us who are touched by autism – either personally or professionally – are all too aware of the statistics for this population. In its most recent estimates, the Center for Disease control projects that 1 in 110 individuals in the U.S. are born with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)....
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Important Facts About Adult Autism Employment
We don’t know how many adults in the U.S. have autism. The CDC number most frequently quoted for Autism in the U.S. (1 in 110) is the prevalence rate for the autism diagnosis in 8-year-old children in 2006 (released in 2009). This rate is an average of data from 11 sites across the U.S., with...
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Harnessing the Power of Autism to Provide Vocational Opportunities to Adults with ASD in Software Testing: The Aspiritech Story
Our son’s graduation in 2003 from a four-year university was a day of great joy and pride for the entire family, but it also left us with the sinking feeling of: “What’s next?” Our son had many areas of strength - he had taught himself to read at age three and had an extensive vocabulary...
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Employment and People with Disabilities: A Social Ill to Change, Not Manage
During the last twenty-five years there has been a cataclysmic shift in the employment world of Americans. The fundamental shift and loss of the manufacturing base in America impacted not only the middle working class but also those individuals with disabilities who would have had a more secure...
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Overview of Vocational Rehabilitation Services for Individuals with Autism
There is growing anecdotal evidence of a lack of awareness within the autism community of available vocational rehabilitation (employment) services. Among those who do know about these services, there is also evidence of some misinformation and skepticism. Vocational rehabilitation is a...
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The Center for Career Freedom’s ASD Employment Program
Chris and Kenny were smiling – they were “wowing the crowd” with their recently acquired computer skills generating business letters, tables, flyers, entering data without errors and in less than thirty minutes. Their Housing and Case Managers were speechless. Their instructors Peter and...
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Preparing for Work
Recently I received a phone call, and the caller asked me if a bright man with Asperger’s was capable of having a job. He was in his late teens and his father thought that he was fully capable of working but his mother felt that her son would not be able to live independently. This youth had...
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Summer Jobs
For most of us a first summer was a kind of rite of passage. Motivated by making some money and by trying on a more adult role way we were ready to take on the responsibilities of work. Knowing we had to commit ourselves to a set work schedule, to learning and performing unfamiliar tasks, to...
