Autism Vox

“They graduate from school and some of them wait for years”

by Kristina Chew, PhD on January 6th, 2008

29-year-old Jennifer Cron works as an aide at The Creator’s Corner, a Salvation Army day-care center in Tustin, California. Cron was diagnosed with autism when she was 21 years old after barely graduating from high school; she has worked at The Creator’s Corner for the past five years. Says the Orange County Register:

[Program Director Betty] Linstead said Cron does tend to lose focus easily but her supervisors have adapted by working around her disability and only giving her one task at a time. “It worked out even better than we anticipated,” Linstead said. “At this point, I would say she’s probably one of the single-most valuable employees.”

Cron is also a big hit with the children, wearing Mickey Mouse ears to school celebrations and talking about SpongeBob SquarePants and Star Wars.

Since working at the day-care center, Cron, 29, has moved out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment in North Tustin. She still receives help from the Regional Center with purchasing groceries and handling finances, but overall Cron’s improvement is noticeable, said her mother.

The Online Athens looks more closely at the issues faced by individuals with intellectual disabilities when they finish school: How to make the transition to work less rocky? How to ensure that there are jobs—meaningful jobs that use a person’s full talents?

In Athens and the Clarke County School District, there are some organizations trying to get the word out as well.

The school district has a community-based job training program and creates transition plans for students with disabilities that complement their individualized education programs.

Then there’s the Athens Council for Transition, which specializes in these issues. They hold an annual workshop to let parents know what’s available, said council member Renee Feldman.

As the school district’s parent mentor, Feldman works intimately with the families of students with disabilities, so she knows their struggles.

“They graduate from school and some of them wait for years,” Feldman said.

She’s also the parent of a disabled man.

Feldman’s 36-year-old son, Jon, has autism. He’s worked for the past 16 years in the food service department of Stroud Elementary, where he’s been a dependable worker.

“He has not missed a day of work in 11 1/2 years,” she said.

“People need to know that there are Medicaid waivers and there are options outside the school district,” Feldman said.

But school systems need to do a better job of letting people know what they can do, said Renee Fleming.

On top of that, the school’s idea of job training often does not involve very meaningful work, and the county government wasn’t helpful in finding a permanent position for Brittany after she volunteered as a senior at the sheriff’s office, Stacy Fleming said.

“I didn’t want my daughter bagging nuts and bolts or putting screws in boxes,” he said. “She can do more.”

These are the sorts of questions that came up again and again at the listening tour with Senator Menendez’s staff I went to last Wednesday. In the words of one mother, what will those autistic individuals who are not able to go to college and who will continue to need lots of support do during the day?

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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Work