How Do We Educate the Workplace About Developmental Disabilities?
by Judy
Friday, October 02, 2009
This is my first post here and my motivation for writing it is the following. My son is 31, developmentally disabled and mildly autistic. He was fortunate enough to get a job a year ago with the federal government through the Ticket to Work program. They were made aware of his di...
- I have seen this before...
Merely Me
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 02:33 PMre: I have seen this before...
Judy
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 03:17 PMThanks for responding, Merely Me. My son works in the mail room, so he's sorting mail and then he keeps all the copy machines supplied with paper. There are some kind of documentation sheets he has to complete each day and they get turned in by a certain time of day. The problem was that he wasn't getting his work done as quickly as they wanted him to. It's nothing that the job coach can help him with, except that she's now trying to help him organize his desk - he's terrible at this, but so are a lot of other people without disabilities! As it turns out, he now has a new supervisor and the pressure has let up and they took away one of his tasks, so now I think he's feeling more comfortable there. He has some very nice co-workers and I'm hoping he will socialize more. He's very introverted and try as we might, we can't get him over his tendency to just not respond when people talk to him. I still think that more people, period, need to be educated about people with disabilities and how to treat them; maybe they're doing more in school nowadays, I don't know. But I think many are left to live on the "fringe" of society and I know they feel it, they truly do.
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111111
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 05:29 PMWhy not make an appointment with your son's employer and explain face to face the problem and your son's limitations? Even if she is in reality unsympathetic this face to face will probably force her into more decent considerate behaviour.
You might want to consider using such terms as "as you know my son is disabled. It isn't that he doesn't want to work faster, but he is unable to do so... etc." Use plain clear language to get the message across.
You might even want to lend her a book on the subject. Then get her phone number. Call her a few days later to follow up to ask for her impressions of the book.
If you show her you are keeping close tabs on the situation, she is sure to back off your son, at least to some degree.
I find this to be almost always true when trying to protect a vunerable person. If you show someone is interested and looking out for him, he will surely be treated better.
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Judy
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 01:27 PMThank you for your comments. I have already talked to his previous supervisor and explained his disability and will do that with the new one if it looks like it's needed again. His job coach is very alert to what's going on, too. As I said, it's gotten better since the new supervisor came on the scene but I know not every supervisor he gets will be understanding. This is a new thing for them, hiring a developmentally disabled person, so maybe he will teach them a thing or two!
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Learning Disability Resources, Tips and Tools
Hi Judy!
This is a tough one...my job used to be to work at a day program with adults with developmental disabilities and we did mail order work there. The clients got paid by the piece so...the more they did...the better pay they got. But...you also have to worry about quality.
What exact type of work does he do Judy?
It is the job coach's responsibility to ensure that he get the support he needs to do his job well. What sorts of improvements are they looking for? And how does he get paid...hourly? or by the amount of work? Hey...it is wonderful that you are involved. So many of the parents of my clients...they were not involved at all. So meddle! You are probably your son's strongest advocate.
Give us more details and...I will give my best shot at trying to suggest things.
And I hope more members respond to your question. Thank you so much for contributing this post to Friends of Quinn.
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