Mike Carr highlights three key resources for autism: Autism Labs, which shares effective strategies for individuals with autism; Jobs for Autism, a membership organization focused on meaningful employment opportunities; and John 13, a nonprofit in Austin that provides day programs for older teens and adults with severe autism. Carr emphasizes the importance of challenging the status quo to help individuals with autism realize their potential and engage in meaningful activities, encouraging inquiries and support through Jobs for Autism or John 13.
Transcript
Mike Carr (00:07):
This week I wanted to talk about a community that we’re building by parents for parents of those that are profoundly autistic, severely autistic, as well as others that have kiddos or adults that are challenged with multiple IDDs intellectual development disabilities. We know it’s tough. My wife and I have a 34-year-old son, profoundly autistic. He has seizures. He’s nonverbal. He still has to wear a diaper at night. He wets his bed almost every night. And this is an adult diaper, but he’s also an amazing kiddo, and I’m sure your son or daughter is phenomenal too. And so what I want to do today is share three different resources that you may want to consider that we offer folks. So first of all, I want to talk about Autism Labs. And we started Autism Labs trying to share what we found that works and doesn’t work. So very simple, grungy things like P Guard for our son.
(01:12):
When he sits on the toilet and goes to the bathroom, the urine doesn’t leak out and create a stinky mess all the way to high tech stuff, right? So one of the things that we’ve recently installed and we’re just blown away about how cool it is, is a smart lock on a door. So as his colleagues come and go, all they have to do is use their thumb fingerprint and they can gain access and leave. We have an app that lets us track who’s showing up when if they leave. It has an auto walk feature. So after a minute or two or three, whatever you set it at, it locks itself so you don’t have to worry about that. If we’re out of town, we can tell who’s there and make sure the door’s locked and all that kind of stuff. And there’s a lot of other technology we talk about and we talk about things that haven’t worked too we’ll show you his environment, the home environment we set up for him, all the different devices he uses and all that kind of stuff.
(02:06):
So that’s what Autism Labs is all about right now. The second resource is the Jobs for Autism Facebook group, and that’s where folks post jobs. Employers might post jobs for people that require more support. Home Depot’s been phenomenal this 20 years ago we toured the country and we looked at programs on the West Coast. We program on the East coast, the Midwest, and we found a program up in Maryland where Home Depot, 20 some years ago, was providing employment and support for folks that had behavior problems. And today they are still doing it even in a bigger way. And there are other employers like this. So jobs for Autisms where employers can post jobs where if you’re looking for something for your son or daughter, even someone that has lots of supportive needs, you maybe can go and ask questions. It’s about a community where I moderate it and hopefully can answer your questions or guide you in the right direction.
(03:00):
And this will evolve over time as we get other parents involved and hopefully they want to lead the charge in their respective location around the country, around the world. And then the third resource is John 13, which I mentioned. It is amazing. What we’re ultimately going to try to do is have a full residential program, 24 by 7, 365 days a year. But as you get older and you say, well, what’s going to happen to my son or daughter? They can’t live by themselves when I can’t take care of ’em. And so the idea here is we’re going to have a community. We’ve got trained folks, BCBAs, folks who’ve got advanced degrees and chosen this career as well as volunteers and others that have a calling to serve this community. And they have fun with them. And we’ve already seen this at Crux Climbing gyms. We just completed a summer camp.
(03:54):
It would blow you away, absolutely blow you away where we bring teens and adults in and we learn what they like to do from a job standpoint. It can be mopping, it can be washing windows, it can be clean cubbies in the future, it might be laundry. It might be more advanced skills for those that are inclined to do that. And we have folks there that are helping them through this. And while your son or daughter might need one-on-one support, what we’re finding is if we group someone that’s a little higher functioning with someone that’s lower functioning, it’s almost this sibling relationship. It’s phenomenal and the synergy and the fun, and you’ll get them to see things you never thought they would do because they’re with other folks that they sort of identify with. It’s truly exciting, joyous, and something that we want to continue.
(04:45):
And as we build the day program out, which is all we have right now, we then introduce the residential piece. We’re going to provide a home, a nice home, not a group home, a home that you would want to live in with a couple perhaps that lives there. And then colleagues that come in throughout the day, help ’em get up, help ’em get dressed if they need that, whatever support they need, and then take them out in the community. They’re not just sitting at a place all day, right? It’s getting out in the community and doing fun things or doing jobs that add value and where people can see them and interact with them. So that’s what John 13 is all about. So feel free to go to j thirteen.org or john thirteen.org for more information on John 13. Feel free to go to that Facebook group, jobs for Autism.
(05:36):
If you want more information on employment side of things, please come back to this place, autism Labs for videos on other things that hopefully we’ll be doing in the not too distant future. But as a parent, I want to let you know that I feel for you, I know this is hard, but you don’t have to be sad. You don’t have to just accept the status quo of your son or daughter, basically just living with you when they age out of the school system at 22. So now they’re just living with you and maybe where you’re at is they’re in the room most days playing video games on the computer, but at least they’re safe and at least you can be with them. That’s great. But they’re just so much more that they can do. And trust me, when you put them in situations like we have with our son who would not even understand how to climb a wall a few months ago, didn’t want to do it.
(06:30):
I mean, we actually had people pushing his feet up on the wall to climb and I saw a video last week of him climbing by himself up the wall. I would bet all the money in the world, he would never have done that. So you just don’t know what potential, what things your son or daughter might want to do, might enjoy doing, might be able to do until you try some of the things that we’re trying@johnthirteen.org. So hope the journey goes well for you. Please reach out to me through Jobs for Autism or through John 13 if you have any questions and we’ll talk again soon.
