Report warns 'tsunami' of adults with autism are struggling to find work

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Eva Ferguson, CALGARY HERALD

September 10, 2015 6:14 PM MD

With public schools facing a 300-fold increase in students with autism, researchers are warning a lack of support for adolescents and young adults is making it harder than ever for graduates to find work.

With about one in every 65 Canadian kids in elementary now dealing with autism spectrum disorder, as compared to only one in every 2,000 two decades ago, experts say diminishing supports will cause a tidal wave of social problems.

“This is a very complex problem that affects many different departments across governments … but we are facing a tsunami of demands and we need better strategies,” said Carolyn Dudley, who helped author the report put out this week by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Examining the employment outcomes of adults with autism spectrum disorder, the report cites this particular group as having some of the poorest job prospects with only about 12 per cent being employed, mostly in part-time, low-paying jobs, compared with those with other physical disabilities where nearly 50 per cent are employed.

A big part of the problem, researchers say, is the behavioural challenges and limited social skills that those with autism often struggle with and that employers often don’t want to deal with.

Read more: http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/report-warns-tsunami-of-adults-with-autism-are-struggling-to-find-work

[Helen Borg]

1. Somebody at the CAHerald is a bit math-challenged, it seems.

"With about one in every 65 Canadian kids in elementary now dealing with autism spectrum disorder, as compared to only one in every 2,000 two decades ago"

That seems like a 30-fold, not 300-fold. Very high, but one order of magnitude lower...

[proverbialwisdom]

14. Good catch. In other words, this represents a 3000% increase over two decades, does it not?

Last edited Fri Sep 11, 2015, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)

1 in 2,000 (1995) into 1 in 65 (2015) -> 3000% increase in incidence of "Canadian kids in elementary now dealing with autism spectrum disorder."

1 in 2,000 = 5 in 10,000
1 in 65 = 154 in 10,000

5 into 154 ~ 30x

That said, consider 1 million children.

1995 (1 in 2,000 rate) -> 500 children with ASD diagnosis
2015 (1 in 65 rate) -> 15,400 children with ASD diagnosis

...that means in the past, if there is no actual increase, 96.75% of cases were missed.

[jeff47]

2. Make sure to leave out the changes in diagnostic criteria over those two decades.

Otherwise, it won't look scary enough for the paper.

[paleotn]

18. Bingo. (nt)

[proverbialwisdom]

22. Bingo, nothing. That expired soundbite does not cut it. (nt)

[proverbialwisdom]

21. That's dismissive, not to mention trite. This information and reasoning challenges that sound bite.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2800781/

Int J Epidemiol. 2009 Oct; 38(5): 1224–1234.
Published online 2009 Sep 7.
Diagnostic change and the increased prevalence of autism
Marissa King and Peter Bearman*

Conclusion: Changes in practices for diagnosing autism have had a substantial effect on autism caseloads, accounting for one-quarter of the observed increase in prevalence in California between 1992 and 2005.

From link in post #15:

Autism Not Really on the Rise? 97.8% Impossible.

by J.B. Handley
January 28, 2015

Author’s Note: I wrote this article 5 years ago to refute the absurd folklore that the Autism epidemic was solely the result of “better diagnosis.”

<>

Changed criteria?

Today, the argument du jour in explaining away the fact that 97.8% of kids with autism fell through the cracks in the late 1980s is that the criteria for autism have changed and broadened, thus creating more kids with a diagnosis. Of course, no one making this point tells you exactly how those criteria have changed, so it’s an effective way to pour cold water on a debate.

The North Dakota study, the one above that produced 3.3 kids per 10,000 with autism, used the DSM-III criteria for autism. Today, we use the DSM-IV criteria for autism. Is DSM-IV radically more expansive than DSM-III? Let me ask a different question: was DSM-III so narrow as to miss 97.8% % of the kids who today have an autism diagnosis?

DSM III (1980): Diagnostic criteria for Infantile Autism

A. Onset before 30 months of age 


B. Pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people (autism) 


C. Gross deficits in language development


D. If speech is present, peculiar speech patterns such as immediate and delayed echolalia, metaphorical language, pronominal reversal.


E. Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment, e.g., resistance to change, peculiar interest in or attachments to animate or inanimate objects.


F. Absence of delusions, hallucinations, loosening of associations, and incoherence as in Schizophrenia.

That’s it. That’s the DSM-III criteria for autism. Parents, what do you think? Remember, 97.8% of the kids of parents reading this site should NOT meet the criteria above.

Anyone? Anyone with a kid with an ASD diagnosis who would have been given a clean bill of health in 1987? Remember, 97.8% of you should be out there! I’m going to take a non-risk here and say that those criteria sound exactly like our kids today. Exactly.

Related (DSM-5): http://healthland.time.com/2014/01/22/autism-cases-may-drop-under-new-diagnostic-criteria/

[lancer78]

26. I am one of those

I am definitely autistic, but wasn't diagnosed when I was around 2 in 1980. I believe that the increase in diagnosis is that doctors are afraid of getting sued.

[jeff47]

28. And other studies say the opposite.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2012/06/29/autism-surge-analysis/15957/

[proverbialwisdom]

34. Sloppy inference. Study reclassified 64 individuals from intellectually disabled to having autism.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-012-1566-0

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to re-examine diagnostic data from a state-wide autism prevalence study (n = 489) conducted in the 1980s to investigate the impact of broader diagnostic criteria on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) case status. Sixty-four (59 %) of the 108 originally “Diagnosed Not Autistic” met the current ASD case definition. The average IQ estimate in the newly identified group (IQ = 35.58; SD = 23.01) was significantly lower than in the original group (IQ = 56.19 SD = 21.21; t = 5.75; p < .0001). Today’s diagnostic criteria applied to participants ascertained in the 1980s identified more cases of autism with intellectual disability. The current analysis puts this historic work into context and highlights differences in ascertainment between epidemiological studies performed decades ago and those of today.

Hardly justifies your reassuring throwaway line.

[Spider Jerusalem]

30. JB Handley is an antivaccine, anti-science crank with no credibility (n/t)

[KamaAina]

3. Count me among the underemployed.

I imagine I am the only member of the Yale College Class of 1985 who rakes in less than $40,000 per year. In the Bay Area, no less!

Even in the rare instances when I get a nibble, despite Mr. Resume being filled with red flags such as "disability", "autism", and "1985", the face-to-face interview goes about as well as that pass play did for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Since I'm not staring the interviewer down the way a neurotypical (our word for the rest of you ) would, they assume I'm shifty or something. So I'm stuck down here in San Jose with my 55 walk score and mediocre transit.

[proverbialwisdom]

24. Expand that paragraph and shop it around. Share your insight. You're so talented and well informed.

Think start-up, Shark Tank, Kickstarter ideas/projects, too. Incidentally, http://www.thinkitup.org/ was simultaneously broadcast on CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX tonight -> http://scoutmob.com/p/This-Must-Be-A-Sign-Wood-Art-2

(Sorry, doesn't this belong in the Lounge?)

[KamaAina]

33. A friend of mine who is also Autistic just crowdfunded her craft business

and in San Jose, the phrase "Shark Tank" refers to the SAP Center.

[Marrah_G]

4. My son is one

He is working with a state agency to help him get employment and if he isn't able to get/keep a job right now, there is a special training school for young adults with Autism that we will try to get him into.

Asperger's is more then just being socially awkward/not fitting in. It has to do with brain processing speeds, visual perception, spacial awareness, as well as many other things. He might be able to end up getting a job and maybe even some housing in disabled housing. But he will need someone looking after him his whole life and frankly, there is a good chance he will always have to live with me.

That is why I get upset when I see people saying it is not a disability, that people just have to understand they are special. Well, being special isn't going to take care of him if I die. It's something I lose sleep over every night. Hopefully someday he can at least get into housing or a group home type situation because I would like to maybe have a real relationship again before I die.

[saidsimplesimon]

5. Marrah, in a dystopian "Alice in Wonderworld" reality, the

brightest and best are labeled as to intelligent for employment. Learning to "dumb it down" has been a constant feature in my life.

[Marrah_G]

7. I think that is what I find frustrating

My son is not too smart for society. Not everyone in the ASD is a genius who is socially awkward.

[dembotoz]

6. the conservatives blathering about bootstraps never seems to take these folks into account

hard to pull those bootstraps when the shoes do not fit

[HassleCat]

8. There's autism and there's autism

I assume everybody knows this. We all know someone who has been diagnosed with autism, yet functions reasonably well. We have an image of autistic people that harks back to the old "retarded" designation, with spastic movements, speech impairments, wandering eyes, and so on. Not all autistic people fit this stereotype. I think the Canadian number are co-mingled. If one in 65 citizens is autistic, I would bet not all of them, far from it, suffer from the "...behavioural challenges and limited social skills..." that make employers nervous.

[hunter]

9. Welcome to my life. I learned to act "normal," but I am tired.

I'm luckier than many Autistic Spectrum people in that my utter cluelessness in social situation also comes with a few useful talents. I also have a supportive family.

My AS grandfather turned his talents into two careers, one as an officer in the Army Air Force, and another as an engineer for the Apollo Project. His life outside of his career was always a mess. The meds they have now might have been helpful to him.

His working "shtick" was a bit "mad scientist." Sometimes his job was to translate between the truly mad scientists and ordinary managers.

The mad scientist persona has sometimes been useful in my life.

Another persona that's been useful is that of the obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. Just the person you want working in your medical lab or blood bank, or futzing around with your database.

Unfortunately most of my OCD tendencies are useless, even a handicap sometimes. OCD is one of the things I take meds for.

I quit high school. I was a skinny, squeaky, highly reactive, weird kid, and I was tired of the bullying and frequent physical violence against me. It took me nine years to graduate from college (I was asked to take time off twice) with many misadventures during that time.

Frankly, in U.S.A society, and in Canadian society, employment practices and jobs are structured in such a way that many autistic people will be unemployable. An "autistic spectrum" person isn't going to interview well, especially not without a lot of coaching beforehand, and they are not going to do well in a job that requires a lot of social interaction.

Teaching was the most difficult job I ever had. I couldn't "read" the kids as it seems most teachers do. I met my wife while we were teachers and she can spot trouble before it happens and divert a kid.

I was the "mad scientist" on good days, the kids glued to their seats waiting to see what crazy thing I did or said next, but on bad days I was simply a tyrant, an authoritarian, and I hated that.

Stay in your seat, kid, or face the wrath of me and the entire system!

When I was a weird kid in school I never paid any attention at all to authoritarian threats. If things got too hot I simply fled. If the principal called my mom to tell her I'd jumped the fence and escaped school, depending on where my mom was in her bipolar universe, she'd either come to school like an angry tiger, or she'd tell them she was sure I'd be home for dinner, and I always was, at least until I was sixteen. But it never took long before the school administrators simply stopped calling my mom when I was trouble. I'm not sure schools are so flexible today, many might call the police or social services.

But today our children are cast out of supportive society when they are eighteen to find their own path. That's great for the kids who can handle it, and kids who have families with the resources to guide or support them, but a large number of kids in their later teens are simply thrown off the train and expected to fend for themselves in the wilderness, and it's not just the autistic kids who suffer that kind of exclusion, in many communities it's the LGBT kids, etc., who really wouldn't have any problems if they were simply accepted by the community for who they are and provided some support and guidance beyond their eighteenth birthday, the same every human being deserves.

[ish of the hammer]

10. my 12 year old has "moderate" autism

I have a hard time getting to sleep, sometimes.

[U of M Dem]

13. You should make this an OP!

perhaps here? http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1145

I am a social worker and I appreciate hearing your story. I just wish people had more exposure and empathy.

[colsohlibgal]

11. What Is The Reason?

We had kids slower than others,some with behavior issues, but when I was a young girl I do not recall any of this around, so why now the explosion of it?

[Lychee2]

12. It's because the definition of "autism" has been expanded.

There now is intriguing evidence that there in fact has been no dramatic rise in autism after all. ...The diagnostic criteria for autism expanded in 1994 to include a spectrum of disorders with a broader list of symptoms, thereby widening the definition of autism. Then in 1995, national data tracking began to include diagnoses made from outpatient patient visits rather than just diagnoses of those admitted to a healthcare facility.

The exact same thing has happened in every country that has seen soaring autism rates–the definition of what constitutes autism was dramatically expanded in the early 1990s to embrace the catch-all term Autism Spectrum Disorder–correlating with when GMO usage, chemtrail rates, pesticide exposure and organic food sales began a sharp increase.

http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/01/09/autism-increase-mystery-solved-no-its-not-vaccines-gmos-glyphosate-or-organic-foods/

[proverbialwisdom]

15. Hello, welcome to DU. Here's what I'm reading on that + post #14.

PREFACE (links in order from essay which follows):

* NIH cancels massive U.S. children’s study -> http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2014/12/nih-cancels-massive-u-s-children-s-study
* 54% of US children suffer from chronic health problems -> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876285910002500
* According to CDC, 1 in 6 has a developmental disability -> http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/05/19/peds.2010-2989.abstract
* In an investigation of pregnant Canadian women, 93% tested positive for the presence a GM insecticide Cry1Ab -> http://www.usherbrooke.ca/gnec/pj/Article%20paru%20dans%20Reproductive%20Toxicology%20%28document%20PDF%29.pdf
* The US is presently 56th in the developed world for infant mortality -> https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/12/nih-cancels-massive-childrens-health-study.html

NIH Cancels Massive Children's Health Study But US Child Health Is In Meltdown
December 15, 2014
By John Stone

From ScienceMag.com: http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2014/12/nih-cancels-massive-u-s-children-s-study

Federal officials are pulling the plug on an ambitious plan hatched 14 years ago to follow the health of 100,000 U.S. children from before birth to age 21. The National Children’s Study (NCS), which has struggled to get off the ground and has already cost more than $1.2 billion, has too many flaws to be carried out in a tight budget environment, advisers today told National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins. He announced he is dismantling the study immediately. At the same time, the advisers endorsed the aims of the study and urged NIH to fund related research. NIH now plans to figure out a way to do that by redirecting some of NCS’s $165 million in funding for 2015, Collins said today at a meeting of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD).... Read the full article NIH Cancels Massive Children's Health Study.

###

In June 2011, I recorded in my letter to NIH director Francis Collins data that 54% of US children are chronically sick and 17% have a developmental disability.

An Open Letter to National Institutes of Health's Dr. Francis Collins: 54% of American Children Suffer from Chronic Health Problems

Dear Dr Collins,

I am writing to you about the health catastrophe currently engulfing US children, but not only US children. Just five years ago (2006) you gave testimony to Congress as director of the Human Genome Research Institute (HERE ):

‘But genes alone do not tell the whole story. Recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool as those changes take much more time to occur. They must be due to changes in the environment, including diet and physical activity, which may produce disease in genetically predisposed persons. Therefore, GEI (Genes and Environment Initiative) will also invest in innovative new technologies/sensors to measure environmental toxins, dietary intake and physical activity, and using new tools of genomics, proteomics, and understanding metabolism rates to determine an individual's biological response to those influences.’

The calamity that we face today is that in 5 years barely a single child has been saved from environmental harm by any government initiative, and new studies report that no less than 54% of US children suffer from the chronic diseases (HERE ) and from the CDC itself that 1 in 6 has a developmental disability (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/05/19/peds.2010-2989.abstract ), all of which you indicated all that time ago are due to environmental changes. These new studies come in the same week as one which shows that in an investigation of pregnant Canadian women 93% tested positive for the presence a GM insecticide Cry1Ab (HERE )...

<>

In 2006 you at least spoke plain about the general causes of the chronic sickness phenomenon. The new reports are far more evasive, and years have been wasted. Immense resources and effort have been put by government agencies and industrial lobby groups into denouncing and abusing people who are simply stating the obvious: that it cannot go on any longer. It is long passed time that the public dance of lies, misinformation and evasion came to an end. I believe you know truth and it is time to speak out so that your nation and the world finally hears.

John Stone
UK Editor, Age of Autism

REBUTTAL:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/01/autism-not-really-on-the-rise-978-impossible.html

Autism Not Really on the Rise? 97.8% Impossible.

by J.B. Handley
January 28, 2015

Author’s Note: I wrote this article 5 years ago to refute the absurd folklore that the Autism epidemic was solely the result of “better diagnosis.”

<>

Changed criteria?

Today, the argument du jour in explaining away the fact that 97.8% of kids with autism fell through the cracks in the late 1980s is that the criteria for autism have changed and broadened, thus creating more kids with a diagnosis. Of course, no one making this point tells you exactly how those criteria have changed, so it’s an effective way to pour cold water on a debate.

The North Dakota study, the one above that produced 3.3 kids per 10,000 with autism, used the DSM-III criteria for autism. Today, we use the DSM-IV criteria for autism. Is DSM-IV radically more expansive than DSM-III? Let me ask a different question: was DSM-III so narrow as to miss 97.8% % of the kids who today have an autism diagnosis?

There’s only one way to know, let’s look at the actual DSM-III criteria for autism:

DSM III (1980): Diagnostic criteria for Infantile Autism

A. Onset before 30 months of age 


B. Pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people (autism) 


C. Gross deficits in language development


D. If speech is present, peculiar speech patterns such as immediate and delayed echolalia, metaphorical language, pronominal reversal.


E. Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment, e.g., resistance to change, peculiar interest in or attachments to animate or inanimate objects.


F. Absence of delusions, hallucinations, loosening of associations, and incoherence as in Schizophrenia.

That’s it. That’s the DSM-III criteria for autism. Parents, what do you think? Remember, 97.8% of the kids of parents reading this site should NOT meet the criteria above.

Anyone? Anyone with a kid with an ASD diagnosis who would have been given a clean bill of health in 1987? Remember, 97.8% of you should be out there! I’m going to take a non-risk here and say that those criteria sound exactly like our kids today. Exactly.

I look at scientists and doctors who say autism hasn’t grown, who say it’s all expanded criteria. Then, I go look at the details, I read the old criteria. I run the simple numbers, I read the published studies. And, I say to myself (and anyone who will listen): how can you be so stupid, or so immoral, or so uninterested in the worst health tragedy of our time, and try to convince the world that everything is just fine? The numbers, and the details, scream the truth.

<>

[Lychee2]

29. Interesting post.

Here are the DSM IV criteria for autism:

(I) A total of six (or more) items from (A), (B), and (C), with at least two from (A), and one each from (B) and (C)

(A) qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

1. marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people, (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity ( note: in the description, it gives the following as examples: not actively participating in simple social play or games, preferring solitary activities, or involving others in activities only as tools or "mechanical" aids )

(B) qualitative impairments in communication as manifested by at least one of the following:

1. delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
2. in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
3. stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
4. lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level

(C) restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least two of the following:

1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
(II) Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (A) social interaction
(B) language as used in social communication
(C) symbolic or imaginative play

(III) The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's Disorder or Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-autism.html

These are really different from DSM III. I'm not sure if they are stricter or looser.

[Chemisse]

16. The problem with that explanation for the "tsunami" of autistic kids reaching adulthood

Is that, if the autism is severe enough to cause problems fitting into society as an adult, then it would have caused those same problems 10 years ago, and 40 or 50 years ago. So there would be no 'tsunami' right now, except only on paper.

It would be more helpful to compare the numbers of severe developmentally disabled kids entering adulthood over the decades, (omitting milder autism, which could have been completely missed in the past) to account for varying diagnoses.

[LeftyMom]

19. If you're much past 30 it's because disabled kids went to separate schools or lived in institutions.

[proverbialwisdom]

23. The numbers don't add up. In the context of autism, that's ridiculous. (nt)

[LeftyMom]

27. The poster made a comment about percieved prevalence of disability generally.

That said I find your arguments to be disingenuous and badly sourced and I'm really not interested in arguing with your nonsense.

[Lychee2]

31. "Disingenuous...nonsense."

I'm sure you would never talk that way to someone in person, unless it was Scott Walker or somebody like that.

I admit, I do it, too. But seeing your post reminded me to try harder to talk to other DUers as if they were sitting in front of me, in which case there are a lot of things I would not say, or would say differently.

I'm not saying what you should do. That's entirely up to you. I'm just talking about a lesson I believe I have learned from your post.

No disrespect intended.

[shanti]

32. back in the day

it was just being "shy" or "introverted". that was enough for the bullying to start.

[kimbutgar]

17. I just was at a meeting today for my 23 year son on the spectrum for his annual IPP review

The program he attends is looking for jobs and they are difficult to find.

There are so many high functioning kids who are not working and if we get a republican President and Zcongress you know they will cut funding for the already existing programs.

[Skittles]

20. I work with a few OCD / mildly autistic or AS folk

once they get the hang of things they are solid workers and not as prone to the drama of their so-called "normal" coworkers

I have a severely autistic brother so it's all second nature to me

[Pauldg47]

25. I'm a special ed teacher and I feel we are over labeling many of our young ones to early ...

....as autistic. As a result, we have many in a generation of kids feeling inadequate and awkward.

Look at Fonzi of 'Happy Days' tv series. If he were put in todays' high schools, he would be considered on the autistic spectrum somewhere.... He was not good at the 3r's, but a great mechanic.

I have two boys of my own w Aspergers Syndrome which have been brainwashed and labeled all their lives by teachers and peers who have bullied them as well. If you are 'told your a dope, you'll act like one too'. Fortunately they finished their Associates Degrees, but being stereotyped all their lives they struggle finding/holding on to work.

The moral of the story is many parents believe there is something wrong w their kid so they over enable & label them. I'm a teacher, I see it all the time w uneeded IEP's. Jeez...give credit to your D-student for trying hard. That was me too. I received all D's in math in high school but ended up w a math major in college. I entered college on probation w the worst grades of my high school class. Yes, I too was a Fonzi !!

I believe there are to many psychologists (and teachers) out there who need work so the numbers are overly inflated.

I expect I'll get lots of response. I think there is changes out there causing increases, but not by those numbers suggested.

[proverbialwisdom]

35. Disability Scoop: Settlement Calls For Cuts To Sheltered Workshops

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/09/09/settlement-cuts-workshops/20782/



Settlement Calls For Cuts To Sheltered Workshops

By SHAUN HEASLEY
September 9, 2015


Workers cut plastic rope to length at a sheltered workshop. Under a proposed settlement agreement, the state of Oregon will reduce the number of people with developmental disabilities employed in segregated settings. (Bob Donaldson/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

Over 1,000 people with developmental disabilities will be able to leave sheltered workshops for competitive employment under a proposed settlement in a first-of-its-kind class-action lawsuit.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that the state of Oregon has agreed to cut the number of adults working in sheltered workshops by nearly 400 and reduce hours worked in such settings by almost a third in the next two years.

Meanwhile, the state will provide 1,115 adults with developmental disabilities who are currently employed in sheltered workshops as well as 4,900 individuals with disabilities ages 14 to 24 with supported employment services so that they can obtain competitive employment over the next seven years.

The settlement comes in a 2012 case brought against top Oregon officials by residents with developmental disabilities and their advocates who alleged that the state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide supported employment services.

<>

In 2013, the Justice Department intervened in the case, now known as Lane v. Brown, and helped to broker the settlement agreement reached this week.

“People with disabilities deserve opportunities to work alongside their friends, peers and neighbors without disabilities and to earn fair wages,” said Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in announcing the agreement. “We are pleased that the state of Oregon has fully embraced integrated employment services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and we look forward to the new ways people with intellectual and developmental disabilities will be able to contribute to their communities as this proposed agreement is implemented.”

Though the plan will reduce the number of people working in sheltered workshops in Oregon, a Justice Department fact sheet on the deal said that the goal is not to shutter such placements, but to ensure that “those who want to work in integrated settings have a realistic opportunity to do so.”

<>

Link: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2013/04/02/feds-stand-sheltered-workshops/17619/

[proverbialwisdom]

36. BEST KEPT SECRET (Newark, NJ) documentary follow-up efforts -> $2,050 of $30k raised in 6 months.

https://www.netflix.com/title/70287268

In “Best Kept Secret,” a Newark, NJ teacher struggles to prepare her students with autism to survive in the brutal world that awaits them once they graduate.

http://www.gofundme.com/TheValentineCenter

vimeo.com/20409473

There are an estimated half million people diagnosed with autism who are soon becoming adults and who society is entirely unprepared for.

Once they leave school there are not many places for them to go. They need constant care and often cannot be left home alone. Their education stops, which leads them to losing many of the academic and social skills that they have taken years to learn.

The Valentine Center has been a dream of mine for a long time. It will cater to these young adults who will continue to grow socially, academically and have career education five days a week. The Valentine Center will give these young adults with autism, hope, opportunity and goals so they can continue living along with their families.

I have watched my young adult students with autism and developmental disabilities "Fall off the cliff " when their public school education ends, at the age 21. They are immediately faced with the stark reality of dramatic change in their lives. Graduation from public schools often starts a frightening rapid deterioration of opportunity and quality of life for young adults on the autism spectrum especially those in our inner cities. Today I know a lot of young adults that are home. So I plead with you to help me start this well needed center for are young adults with autism and developmental disabilities by making a tax deductible donation to The Valentine Center. Come and help fulfill this dream. Give hope to families who have children with autism.

Thanks

Truly grateful
Janet Mino

Donations made for the benefit of the Valentine Center will go to the Valentine Center Fund of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a 501(c)(3) organization. The mission of the Community Foundation's Valentine Center Fund is to support the establishment of the Valentine Center. The Community Foundation's employer identification number is 22-2281783.