The Spectrum Careers

Below is a post by social entrepreneur Nish Parikh, the founder, technology architect and CEO of WebTeam Corporation, a developer of innovative solutions for students with special needs.

WebTeam Corporation and Autism Speaks partnered last year on TheSpectrumCareers.com, an online jobs portal for people with autism. This post is part of Autism Speaks' focus on employment during October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

About 50,000 young adults on the autism spectrum will be transitioning from school age into adulthood this year. They will part with the comfort and familiarity of the classroom and enter the workforce for the first time. Like most employable adults, they will face many challenges adjusting to their new roles and responsibilities. However, a little guidance from a career coach, along with access to professional services, may help these job seekers not only survive but also succeed at work.

When I was introduced to Autism Speaks several years ago, I was developing my ColorsKit project to deliver early intervention tools to the autism community. Since then it has become clear to me that in order to capitalize on the benefits of early screening and intervention through tools like ColorsKit, it is necessary to have a solution ready for individuals on the spectrum in their post-school years.

Thanks to the support of Autism Speaks, we have that solution today in the form of The Spectrum Careers. This portal is the result of my team at Rangam and Autism Speaks putting our heads together to work on a comprehensive career solution for the differently abled.

The Spectrum Careers is working out pretty well for job-seeking individuals with autism.

Recently one person with autism was hired by a large pharmaceutical company as a packaging technician after he uploaded his video resume on the portal.

Two individuals who signed up for The Spectrum Careers were appointed by a global media conglomerate for important quality control positions as part of their diversity expansion initiative.

This is just the type of boost that The Spectrum Careers needed to get rolling. A critical next step is to offer not only entry-level positions but also highly-skilled, professional jobs. As a matter of fact, our goal is to ensure that individuals with special abilities are placed at various levels across a wide range of industries.

Ever since I started working on The Spectrum Careers project, I’ve formed the belief of delivering innovation through empathy. For instance, one of the innovative features on TheSpectrumCareers portal is the ability upload video resumes and job descriptions.   Employers need to understand workers on the spectrum with an open and empathetic mind. While many job skills that are unique to autism are extensively documented in HR literature, critical traits such as honesty, personal integrity and the ability to think rationally go unrecognized when making inclusive hiring decisions.

Corporations need to factor in all possible benefits of hiring people with autism in order to fully realize the positive impact it can have on the bottom line.

The approach that The Spectrum Careers has taken to put adults with autism to work is backed by a staffing model that produces outstanding results for America’s business sectors. While The Spectrum Careers is placing individuals in both permanent and temporary positions, an estimated number of 17,000 staffing companies operating from about 35,000 U.S. locations connect 14 million temporary mainstream workers to jobs annually, which maximizes access and opportunities for employment.

If people without autism can be hired on a contractual basis to work on important deliverables, then there’s no reason not to use the same model to hire somebody who has autism and is capable of performing at the same level as their mainstream colleagues.

I urge employers to join us in getting individuals on the spectrum back to work.

College Steps: An Integral Part of the AIC Community

Every new semester brings with it the same familiar challenges.

Whatever they may be, it seems that every passing year brings with it hard lessons learned – all in the hope that by the end of our time as students, we will be shaped in a new mold of maturity that readies us for the upcoming challenges of our budding professional lives.

Ultimately, we hope that these hard lessons will translate to happier and brighter futures as adults.

Whatever achievements we have made as students though, very few of us can boast that we were able to accomplish such strides all alone. More often than not, we have had to rely on the support of our loved ones, friends, professors, colleagues and co-workers.

And though our victories may be well earned, there are few of us who could have matched our successes if the challenges had been greater, or if these friends had been harder to come by.

However, there are many students whose challenges exceed the norm, and yet persevere nonetheless. These are the students of College Steps, whose presence have become commonplace around campus.

College Steps is a post-secondary support program geared to assist students living with certain social, communication, or learning challenges to succeed in college level classes and eventually work towards a degree. Many of these students would not have had the opportunity to attend post secondary education under their existing support networks. College Steps is able to provide the specific learning experience their students require in the form of Individualized College Plans, or ICP’s.

These ICP’s are meant to serve as highly-structured plans outlining goals for academic, social, independent living, and vocational success. College Steps works with each student it supports to design an ICP to meet their goals. ICPs are then carefully coordinated between the student, the student’s family and the program staff in order to achieve the student’s goals.

Key to the success of the plans are the mentors, who work with students on a daily basis to keep on track with their goals and meet daily objectives.

Long-distance athlete and PT major, Jennifer Fannon, summarizes her role as a mentor as acclimating her students for “the all-around college experience.” Mentors accomplish this by providing one-on-one learning with students to develop key skills, including: socialization, note-taking, studying/test preparation, and communication skills, to name a few.

“Each student develops their own goals for the program, and the mentors themselves are active in making sure the student accomplishes their goals, eventually without the mentor’s help”, stated Fannon, who described the program overall as “a good learning experience,” ultimately allowing students to overcome their shyness and grow as individuals.

Both Fannon and Carolyn O’Connor, another mentor and a grad-phase OT major, value tremendously their involvement in the program – as do the other mentors of the program. To them, it’s not so much a job as it is a chance to spend time with people they have grown attached to personally, and the benefits of the program are felt mutually in this respect.

“This job is definitely my sanity,” O’Connor explained, when asked about her attachment to the program. “It feels good to work with a group that needs and loves you.”

Ultimately, the service College Steps offers is one that everybody needs at some point in their lives: the guidance of loved ones, friends and mentors through the challenges of young adulthood. Students in the program are challenged constantly to improve upon their professional, academic and social skillsets, and are surrounded by those personally invested in their accomplishments.

Through this mission however, College Steps also achieves something else indirectly. Many of the bonds created between mentor and mentee turn personal, and serve to strengthen that feeling of small-campus unity that often characterizes the AIC family.

This unity may not always be consciously felt, but it’s no small matter that this campus offers something that very few other campuses can: that close-knit and friendly environment in which nobody is a stranger and everyone is accessible.

College Steps couldn’t survive here had it not been for this quality. It speaks to the character of AIC as a whole if anyone, no matter what their social, physical or mental limitations may be, can find success in their goals towards a fulfilling and independent life.

The presence of College Steps on campus represents an overwhelmingly positive aspect of the AIC character. It serves as the epitome of communal responsibility, and sets a kind example for how we, as students, ought to interact with one another: that we should all strive in some way to be “mentors” to one another, and help one another so we may grow and mature collectively.

For more information about College Steps, you can visit their website at www.collegesteps.org.

Till Travel

TILL Travel offers people with learning differences the opportunity to gain interpersonal and social skills through the transformative experience of world travel.  Our unique adventures are designed to enhance personal growth and connections. Travelers will create memories and friendships to last a lifetime with the guidance of professionally trained leaders, experienced in supporting people with unique learning and behavioral styles.

Providing Exceptional Transformative Journeys for Single Travelers, customized Group Adventures, and Educational Travel to enhance classroom curriculum.

Leading the field since 1980 in integrated social learning, we are committed to providing Exceptional Travel Adventures.

• Well–planned preparatory curriculum develops skills needed for successful and rewarding adventures
• Creating 21st century “pen pals” with sister agencies around the globe, making friends before leaving home
• Building social connections and bonds between fellow travelers for meaningful and lasting relationships
• Cultural Exchanges provide educational opportunities possible only through travel
• Achieving independence and self-confidence with invisible supports · Learning and practicing new interpersonal skills which impact the traveler long after the trip is over.
• Enlightening the traveler by understanding the similarities and differences of the people and cultures of the world making for well-rounded global citizens
• Safe, detailed, adventures arranged in partnership with ACIS, a leader in quality educational travel.

For more information about TILL Travel, contact Dale Belcher at 781-302-4619 or by email.

Career and Internships Fair at SVC

Annual Career and Internships Fair at Southern Vermont College

(BENNINGTON, Vt.) – Southern Vermont College will host its annual Spring Career and Internships Fair on Thursday, March 30, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. in Everett Mansion’s Burgdorff Gallery. The Fair will be an ideal opportunity for those seeking employment, career information, internship possibilities, and more. This free event is open to the general public, students from other area colleges, and current students and alumni from Southern Vermont College.

Representatives from the following local and regional industries, law enforcement offices, state agencies, health sites, and nonprofit organizations will be available: Albany County Sheriff's Office; BAYADA Home Health Care; Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce; Berkshire Family and Individual Resources; Berkshire Farm Center & Services for Youth; The Equinox Resort; Northwestern Counseling & Support Services; Seall Inc. - 204 Depot; Securitas Security Services USA; Springfield Medical Care Systems, Inc.; United Counseling Service; and Vermont State Police.

Employers interested in participating or for more information, please contact Southern Vermont College Career Development and Internships Coordinator Betsy Dunham at
802-447-4631 or e-mail careers@svc.edu.

Voices and Choices

This conference is for ALL people with developmental disabilities and their friends, families, teachers, providers and allies. We want to share our enthusiasm for encouraging youth and adults with disabilities to speak up for themselves. As always, we will have 20+ different workshops about our experiences with self-advocacy.

I'm Determined

I'm Determined: A state directed project funded by the Virginia Department of Education, focuses on providing direct instruction, models, and opportunities to practice skills associated with self-determined behavior. This project facilitates youth with disabilities to undertake a measure of control in their lives, helping to set and steer the course rather than remaining the silent passenger. The focus is on self-advocating in a college environment. Each year there is a 3-day I'm Determined Event at a college in Virginia that includes a dorm experience, vendor tables, and sessions for students, parents, and educators. 

They also sponsor MOVE: State leadership and mentors offer an annual event to young African American men with disabilities in grades 9-11. Students engage in activity-based learning to overcome barriers, become self-determined, and graduate high school to be college and career ready.

http://www.imdetermined.org/educators/educator_resource_submission/ 

Dressed for Success at Lyndon

 So all of the College Steps at LSC students and several of the CS mentors volunteered to help career services with their big "Dressed for Success" event. They helped set up, participated in the event and than helped break it all down. Overall it was a wonderful event and their support was very helpful.

Living for Giving Event at NOVA

We are hosting a soccer tournament to support awareness for veterans with PTSD. We will be donating to an organization that uses Music Therapy as a way to cope with PTSD – The American Music Therapy Association.

Game Day at WCC

CS students and mentors set out to play "Apples to Apples" on Tuesday's Game Day at WCC. 

Excitement and laughter built up as the game progressed and each tried to convince the "judge" and fellow players that their card was the "best pick"

Student Blog - Kalin

My name is Kalin, a student in the College Steps program attending a second semester for it at NCC. I recently attended a meditation event that happened to work out pretty well. There were actually several people that attend this event and it was very interesting to hear about what meditation is and why people should do it more often. My thoughts about the event though? I thought that it was pretty informational for what meditation was and I feel it’s one of the many ways to deal with everyday stresses in life itself. I myself do go through a lot sometimes but I know that there is still hope to be successful in life, especially for those that have a special gift as I call it that others should really see.

Thanks,

Kalin