My neighbors who I’ve known for almost a decade as a 26 year old disabled son that is right now unemployed. He worked for almost 6 years in retail till his disabilities and the atmosphere there (the particular store as had multiple lawsuits due to how the they treat disabled and minority employees) forced him to quit.
He is enrolled in our states version of voc rehab (worthless, they’ve been going around and around since he graduated high school) and his parents are helping him get SSDI (they have an appointment with a doc in a couple of weeks).
He WANTS TO WORK! But neither voc rehab and a private company they use to help find jobs for disabled people are able to find anything.
Their son loves animals and is a bookworm. College is out of the question (they tried twice) due to memory issues and a math related learning disability.
He cannot do physically demanding work or anything that requires repetitive movements.
He can’t sit or stand for long periods of time.
Being required to remember to do multiple things is almost impossible for him.
Talking on the phone to strangers is incredibly awkward and painful for him.
He can’t drive.
Can’t do anything math related.
The voc rehab and the private group no longer work with Goodwill or Salvation Army do to having issues with local stores in the past (plus the sub minimum wage issue).
My first thought is how mentaly disabled is he. Can he understand the concept that he may have to push his limits a little bit. If not he may not be employable for any real length of time.
Is there a society that addresses his specific disability (such as United Cerebral Palsy etc)? They may have advocates or counselors who can help find appropriate work.
He was a bagger/whatever they needed doing. Sweeping, bringing in carts, helping customers out, fronting shelves, returning products to the shelves.
He has, if I remember the name correctly, “Non Verbal Learning Disorder”. Sort of like Autism without (in his case) too much social difficulty. It effects his memory, ability to multitask/pay attention and he is INCREDIBLY clumsy. What do you mena by “pushing his limits”?
Not really. His physical disability is rare and his mental one is not well understood yet, at least that’s what I understand about it.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the private agency voc rehab is using will make first contact with the potential employer and will help with the interview process.
Does he actually need to make money, or does he just want to have a meaningful job? There are probably some volunteer positions that he could try for at a shelter, the library, etc.
He wants to make money. He used to volunteer at a nearby animal shelter, but had to stop do to multiple injuries from walking the big dogs (that was all they would let volunteers do).
If he does get SSDI, he will most likely volunteer at the library or try another animal shelter/wildlife rehab place, see if they’re is anything he could physically do (petting cats/kittens/puppies, etc).
If he’s working with a rehab agency, they probably already know about it, but you could try nish.org to see if they have an affiliated nonprofit agency that’s local to you. They used to be the National Institute for the Severely Handicapped, then NISH, now apparently SourceAmerica. Many of their affiliates are workshops that employ severely handicapped employees as a means of vocational training/rehabilitation. They used to mostly provide goods and services to the government.
Out of curiosity re his physical disabilities other than clumsiness is he physically weak? What specifically makes him unable to do anything requiring substantive physical effort? Motor issues, muscle issues… what?
Sounds like aside from the work culture of the people at the grocery he worked at, retail wasn’t all that disagreeable for him. I wonder if a similar line of work at a better company would work for him? Like Costco or Home Depot.
I just got back from having dinner with them. He has been officially diagnosed with what I said above, PLUS, Ehlers Danlos Syndrom Type Three. He wears wrist and ankle braces.
Along with the nonverbal thing he also has physical damage to both sides(?) of his brain.
I’ll give thme the links several of you posted (I’m on my phone and for some reason the quote feature is not cooperating) and the services/organizations.