Full Transcript for the "Autism: An Employer's Perspective" Video

Natalie Luyckx
Hi, My name is Natalie Luyckx. I'm with the Autism Society of America-Oakland County Chapter. Our Chapter is committed to Adult Autism Spectrum Disorders. We are pleased to present the successful story of Jonathan Priebe’s employment. We thank his mother, Liz Priebe and his supervisor Mike for participating in this video.
We hope that Jonathan’s story will inspire others to pursue their own successful careers.

Mike Quinn
Jonathan came to work in the summer of 1997, through a Work-Study program at North High School. They called me and asked if he could work here, and they said they would have a Job Coach here all the time with him, so I said, sure, why not.

I had no training whatsoever as far as working with someone with Autism, at all. The only thing I knew about Autism was from the movie Rain Man, and that’s about it.

Jonathan works in the supply department here at the Gross Pointe Public Schools. He fills stock requisitions. Special things we had to do were, we had to put up signs with the stock numbers that would locate them to where they are in the stock area. And that was about it.

He had his Job Coach here, and that made a big difference having those Job Coach’s here for the first couple years.

Jonathan will get the order together, box it up, write on the box to the school and the person it’s going to and set it on the cart, and then it’s delivered by our mail-driver. Some days we don’t have requisitions so I’ll have him dust shelves, sweep up, help me move things, just whatever comes up, he’ll help me do.

Changes in Jonathan’s routine are hard on him, so I prepare him by calling him or letting him know before. The bus picks Jonathan up at his house, I don’t know exactly what time, but he’s dropped off here between 8:45 and 9:15. When Jonathan comes in, Jonathan starts at 9:30, he’ll check his emails and then he’ll make some phone calls to some teachers in the district, and of course he’ll write me an email.

We have a t.v. in the lunchroom. When we start lunch, we have to watch a little bit of the Price is Right, and then we have to watch Channel 4 News because of the weatherman, Eric Wilson, and then we finish up with watching a little bit the Food Network with Sara Molton. It’s everyday like that, we have to do it that way, or else it’ll throw his routine off, and we don’t want to do that.

Jonathan used to make a lot of loud outburst, and that has really gone to very minimal now, it’s hardly ever now. Different days it’s different some days when he’s more agitated, I think he talks more, but it’s an indoor voice, it’s not disrupting anybody. Everybody loves him here, and it’s just worked out really well.

Liz Priebe
For Jonathan, he has become socially linked with his environment through his job in a way that he never was when he was in school. It’s a natural relationship, he is friends with all of them, they like him, he’s not a person with a disability.

Mike Quinn
He makes Holiday cards for everyone, they love his cards, it’s something he made, and that I think is the big thing, it’s not something he bought, but he made them for them. It’s personal, it’s got their names on it. They all have them on their desk, or up on their wall. It shows that he does a great job here, and he has a heart of gold.

It’s been a unique experience. Jonathan’s perspective on the world is different and interesting. I’ve got to see the world through his eyes. One of his sayings he mentions a lot is, “Everything in a mirror is backwards”. It’s true, but it’s just a different perspective on the world and it’s very interesting to me.

Liz Priebe
I think all people with Autism thrive on the structure and the sense of accomplishment that a job gives them. People with Autism are work driven, their not socially driven, so the thought of a person with Autism living their life with nothing to do that had any structure or any purpose or any reason to their day is almost painful for me to think about. You know, they’re wonderful people, and they’re wonderful workers, and they have so much to offer, and it’s our job to help them to do that.

Mike Quinn
My advice for employers who are willing to hire a person with Autism would be to go ahead and try it, see what happens. The big thing is to have a Job Coach.
The Job Coach is very important and it was important for me, they were here all the time for the with him for the first two or three years, and then part-time, but that is-I couldn’t have done it without the Job Coach. Plus, here I had a lot of support everybody here in the building, plus I had the Autism class at Mid-South High School, it was a lot of help, and the work-study program, they were a lot of help because I was coming in blind and I just winged it and did my best and asked questions on how to deal with this situation, how to deal with that.
It takes time, but once they get in a routine, and they know what’s going on and you know what’s going on, they’re excellent employees.