Between Spectrums

The Desire and Motivation to be Independent

Hello Readers

First of all I like to apologize on how my first post come out. I was hoping for a better outcome. But hey you learn from you mistakes and do better the next time. Let me ask you this question. Those of you who are autistic, do you ever want to do things by yourself like live at your own place, have a well paid job, or go to places you like to visit? Parents do you want your child be happy and live independently but you worry that he or she may need benefits to live on because of them lacking some skills. That was a concern for John D'Eri. His Andrew has autism and he was worried that he may not have much of a future. He didn't want Andrew to "fly off the cliff" to services and support. What he wanted for his son was to have a life that included a job and friends like him. So when John drove through a car wash and see what the attendants were doing, he gets an idea "ding!". As we know autistic people have an incredible eye to detail and focus on the task they been given. So John decided to start a car wash with a crew of people in the spectrum, Which included Andrew, and thus Rising Tide Car Wash was born. It now has 43 employees, 35 are autistic. The business is doing great but the key thing is that Andrew and the other employees in the spectrum can now have a job to go to where they are valued and feel like everyone else. It's really awesome that a father didn't give up on finding future for his son. He wanted to give Andrew a way to live and be happy and he has done so.

Way to go Mr. D'Eri and Andrew. Keep up with the good work and the inspiration you give 

Now as for me. I'm currently living in St. George, Utah and live with roommates as I go to college. I don't have a car yet so I get around by walking. It may sound tiring but at least I'm choosing to be independent and go to places I want to go to. I do have a desire to drive it's just I lack the motivation to do so. And it's not the matter of incapability but of fear of hurting someone that hinders the motivation to get a license. So being 23 years old I want get a license so I can go to further more places and give others a ride, like how they give me rides. Also having a car does help when you want to take a date some where. I'm planning to get a license to drive when I'm done with school for a semester. You guys can hold me accountable to that if you want.

A desire to be independent is in each of us and we want to do things we want to do. But some of us lack the motivation to do so. Some autistic people really do want to do things independently but some can be severely autistic or some not so severe but lack motivation. We just need to do our part in making some of their desires a reality. Those of you who want to give someone you know with autism a better future. If he or she is severely autistic you can help by maybe finding a job that is simple and easy to do. Like a job at the market or maybe organize a few files in your office. You be surprised on how focused they can be. Those with not so severe you can motivate them to find a job by helping them look through some help wanted ads on the newspaper or the internet and see what interests them most. Then either they or you can call to set up a interview for the job. And then hopefully they got the job. Now if they're going to college and they want to live in an apartment instead of home you can find a cheap apartment and help him or her sign up. That I like to thank my parents for. As for driving, those who are not so severely autistic you can help them get over their fear of driving by helping them with backing up, parallel park, and using the turn signals. There are other things we can do to help those of the spectrum to be more independent. They have the desire we just need to help them gain the motivation.

If you want to learn more about Andrew and the Rising Tide crew just go to twentytwowords.com/this-dad-started-a-company-to-employ-his-son-his-business-model-hire-autistic-people/

And if you want to ask questions about autism or the blog please comment here or on the Facebook page.

Thank you for time
Tay Gallagher