Passionate Mom Launches an Online Job Board for Young Adults with Special Needs

The employment process for applicants with special needs has never been easy. More than 90 percent of young adults with autism are likely to be unemployed or not continuing their education. Concerned parents throw an ample amount of questions around to try and figure out why their child can’t find a job.  Is it something the parents are doing wrong? Not really, in fact the more parents look, the less opportunities they find.

This shocking statistic caused Shannon Nash and her husband to take action. When Shannon first received the news that their 18-month-old son, Jason was autistic they became to feel overwhelmed. After several reports from doctors and therapists, the comments about Jason’s future weren’t too positive. Nash says, “A very bleak outcome in terms of what his future could be: Very, very bleak.”

Now, Nash’s son is 16 years old and although he will likely need to continue speech therapy for the rest of his life and encounter other struggles as well, he has made a lot of progress. Due to a Minnesota-based program he could earn an associate degree which will build a strong foundation for him to enter the work force.

After researching employment opportunities for youths with Autism, Nash was shocked. She found helpful resources from groups like “Autism Speaks” on resume-writing and other job-seeking skills, but she couldn’t find anything specifically linking together applicants with Autism and the employers willing and able to hire them. After the long and tedious process, Nash decided it was time to make it easier for all parents with children who have special needs. After a brief run-in with a website designer, she created her own job board website and is focusing on making connections with other organizations working on the issue.

The response thus far, Nash says, has been positive and she is focusing all her efforts on urging more people (employers and job seekers) to sign up.

Nash’s dream is to give others like her son the opportunity to build their workplace skills and seek future employment. There is this huge misconception amongst certain employers that hiring a worker with special need creates a hassle and is simply an opportunity for them to deal will more risk and liability. Nash has found the opposite. Workers with autism are well-suited for film editing and other time-consuming activities that may attract the individual’s interest.

It is an amazing cause and can definitely make the lives of the parents a little less stressful. “We want to educate people and make them understand this is a workforce to really get behind, and I can tell you it’s going to happen because it’s too many kids aging into adulthood.”