I hope you’ll pardon my chutzpah.
I want you to take a test and I’m betting you’ll fail the test. (If you are the parent of an autistic child, your test is in my next post!) There’s a point, (I promise) and it’s just ten questions. Are you in?
Good, let’s start:
1. Can you talk about all the autistic individuals you see doing a variety of meaningful work anywhere you shop or in your community? Okay, how about all the fantastic autistic people you work with at your job? Okay, how about the number of autistic individuals you employ?
2. Can you talk about all the excellent supported living options available for disabled people? Okay, do you know what ‘supported’ living means?
3. Can you talk about your favorite autistic artists, musicians, authors and poets?
4. Can you talk about how many autistic students your child has in their class? (Sorry, recess and lunch don’t count).
5. Can you talk about how much they celebrate diversity at your child’s school, and how diligently they educate ALL the children about different abilities?
6. Can you talk about what happens to an autistic person who graduates from school? As a bonus can you talk about the insight you’ve gained about disability rights and equality from your autistic friends?
7. Can you talk about how you frequently see autistic people in public and they are welcome and included?
8. Can you talk about your neighbors who pay particular attention to the fact that one of the neighborhood children is autistic and has wandered on a few occasions?
9. Can you talk about your son or daughter’s autistic friends that hang out at your house all the time? How about how you encourage your children to visit an autistic friend at their house?
10. Can you talk about all the times you’ve offered respite to friends with autistic children: your offers of babysitting, friendship, or just a friendly ear?
I bet you got my point. You might know about the existence of autism, and that knowing has not been translated into action. Yet.
Now imagine having an autistic child. A potential life sentence to isolation, rejection, depression, stress, anxiety, worry and exhaustion.
Now imagine being an autistic child, shunned, ‘self-contained’ and excluded by your school, community and even some family members. Imagine being deprived of the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to your world and not being valued.
Are you tempted to cry out, “but ‘they’ have to do something for the disabled”! “They”, being the government and social services.
First, they isn’t you and second, in a nutshell, here’s the response “they” give you: no.
When a differently-abled child graduates from school they will lose between 70-90% of their support. Occupational therapy, speech therapy, adapted physical education, life skills, habilitation skills, emotional support, behavioral support—and if they were lucky to have some—friends.
In fact services and assistance have been decreased over 40% the last 10 years.
While the prevalence of autism is exponentially increasing, support is systematically being eliminated.
But that doesn’t mean YOUR support needs to decrease.
You can make a meaningful difference, organically as you conduct your everyday life.
Would you carry the test with you for a month? Will you get it out and ask your family and friends the questions? Will you challenge yourself and others to have the basic conversations our community and humanity need:
“Does everyone deserve the right to thrive?”
“Do we focus so much on our own lives we forget that we can help others—in simple, meaningful ways?”
It’s easier than you think.
Ability 2 Work welcomes you and your questions. We operate a café and bakery called Baker’s Treat in Flemington. We score an A + on the test—every day.
We offer a supportive, inclusive job sampling and training for the differently-abled but we don’t stop there. We also focus on the emotional, social, cognitive, life skills and creative environment the differently-abled need to thrive and contribute.
We believe that thriving is a fundamental right of all humans: including the differently-abled. We create healthy gourmet award winning food so the community will come support our new model.
We welcome volunteers at Baker’s Treat, we welcome you to eat at Baker’s Treat, order gourmet cuisine and cakes at Baker’s Treat, listen to great music at Baker’s Treat, all the while learning, supporting and making a difference.
See, I told you it was easier than you thought.