Working to provide job opportunities
and a half hours.
That accommodation is necessary in Myers’ case to give him the chance to master different tasks — but few workplaces would offer it. That’s why his father opened the cafe.
Like other parents of adult children with autism and other developmental disabilities, Michael and Jennifer Myers had long anguished over how to forge a path for their son after he left school and many support services went away.
A generation ago, parents of children with disabilities pushed for protections in the school system. Today’s parents are pressing to integrate their children into jobs in health care, retail and information technology.
They are part of a burgeoning national movement, increasingly encouraged by state and federal government policies, to get more people with developmental disabilities into the workplace. Some are pioneering their own solutions. “We weren’t willing to leave it to chance,” said Michael Myers, who employs about 15 people at Sam’s Canterbury Cafe. He chose a location in the quiet Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood where their coffee shop would draw regulars, rather than tourists, and he made sure the walls were painted soothing colors.
“Our hope for Sam has always been and always will be for him to continue to grow and progress, so that he can live as independent and fulfilling a life as possible.”
The number of adults with disabilities who are employed in the general workforce is growing, but the population still suffers high rates of unemployment and underemployment. About 137,500 people with disabilities were employed year-round in Maryland in 2016, the most recent year for which U.S. Census data is available. Another 177,000 were not working despite in many cases an ability and willingness to work.
Advocates say the need to expand opportunities is growing more urgent. Over the next decade, an estimated 500,000 teens nationwide who have been diagnosed with some form of autism will age out of their schools, and lose access to the support services they provide. Thousands of them will be in Maryland.
State and federal policymakers are beginning to respond. Between now and 2020, Maryland will stop allowing employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
The state has developed an employmentfirst strategy to guide agencies to increase the number of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities working in competitive jobs. It includes steps such as providing training and technical assistance to schools so they can help young people move from high school to jobs.