Parents create custom jobs for adult kids with autism

Lori Ireland and a handful of other parents in Chapel Hill, N.C., had a simple dream: They wanted their teenage children to be able to have jobs someday. Sitting around with nothing productive to do would be unsatisfying and frustrating for their kids, not to mention expensive.

But they also knew the dismal truth: It's tough for someone with autism to get a job.

So, like an increasing number of parents with children on the autism spectrum, Ireland and her peers set out to employ them themselves. Their non-profit Extraordinary Ventures businesses, including one cleaning city buses and another making candles and other gifts, now employs 40 people with developmental disabilities in the Chapel Hill area.

Read more of Karen Weintraub's USA Today article HERE.

Job Woes Remain For People With Disabilities

By Shaun Heasley from disabilityscoop

For the fourth month in a row, the unemployment rate among people with disabilities crept higher in August, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday.

The jobless rate hit 13.9 percent for Americans with disabilities in August, up from 13.6 percent the month prior.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among the general population improved slightly, falling to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent.

Nonetheless, the jobless figures represent only part of the picture. Statistics show that during the same period, the number of people — both with disabilities and without — who gave up on looking for work also grew.

The Labor Department began tracking employment among people with disabilities in October 2008. There is not yet enough data compiled to establish seasonal trends among this population, so statistics for this group are not seasonally adjusted.

Data on people with disabilities covers those over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The first employment report specific to this population was made available in February 2009. Now, reports are released monthly.

Article HERE.