Job training for youth with disabilities- The value of work for kids with disabilities
Most presidential historians and scholars consider Abraham Lincoln to have been America’s greatest president.
Of all the values and principles our Republican 16th president believed in, the idea that an individual should work hard was the one he believed in most. For a frontiersman like Lincoln, hard work meant survival, and that strong work ethic stuck with him his entire life.
“Though laborious and tedious … work, work, work is the main ingredient for success in life,” he said.
I could not agree more.
Sadly, a lot of folks don’t believe this today.
In my fifteen years working closely with the hundreds of parents and guardians of youth with disabilities, I have encountered many families over the years that resisted having their child enter the workforce because they can get paid not to by collecting disability income—even if their child is willing and able and eager to work.
When informed that in some cases their child may be able to both work part time and collect supplemental monthly SSDI benefits simultaneously, most parents or guardians choose to have their child just collect and not work.
By not subscribing to Lincoln’s belief regarding work—and the belief of millions of others—I think that these parents and guardians greatly limit their children.
And that’s a shame.
If a child can work and wants to work, I think they should be encouraged to. Even if it’s volunteer work. Work is good for the soul.
Although I’ve never been opposed to giving a man a fish to feed him for a day, or even a few days, weeks or months, I feel it is far better solution to teach a man or a woman how to fish to feed him or her for life.
When speaking with parents, I expound the virtues of the many intangibles a job would bring their teenage child with a disability, aside from the tangible paycheck earned. This includes a boost in confidence, the ability to be a part of his or her own community, the feeling of belongingness at work, opportunities to socialize with other people working hard, a positive and safe place where he or she could go within their community, and an opportunity to advance in a career, to name just a few.
If after saying all of that they’re still not interested, with one last-ditch effort I remind parents or guardians know that their child may still be able to work a certain amount of hours each week and keep their monthly SSDI benefits.
I try my best to make my case, but many parents don’t buy it. And, of course, it’s their right not to. I get that.
At the end of our meetings with these particular parents or guardians, I’m often told that their decision has already been made. There’s nothing that I can do to change their minds, so I thank them for their time and I leave. Their child is usually crushed because they’re being prevented from working just like everyone else. And I leave the home crestfallen.
I believe this mindset is a massive impediment to any hopes for a future job or career for these kids who often want to work, yet are prevented to.
Thankfully, over the years I’ve been blessed to work with some parents and cyber schools who support youth with disabilities getting out into the workforce. They’ve hired me to provide community-based vocational, educational, and recreational services to their children/students above and beyond what programs are provided to them in school. Though I don’t make much money in my chosen line of work, I’ve never been “paid” as much as when I help a teenager with a disability get his or her very first job. When I get to see the light in their eyes that says, “Hey, I can do this!”
It is an absolutely incredible feeling.
In my next post, you’ll read about how a 14-year-old classified with multiple disabilities is thriving because of the business he created. Yet another ‘special story’ from Special Stories.
For more stories on youth with disabilities, visit https://www.specialstoriesbook.com to learn about the new book “Special Stories: Short Stories On Youth With Disabilities And My Adventures Working In The Disabilities Field” by Mike Kelly (2017, Vendue Books)
