Joseph Gannon, diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, looks forward to owning a business.
By BARBARA GIASONE
The Orange County Register
FULLERTON — Job landed, job lost, job landed …
Joseph Gannon's employment record looks like a stock market graph in a see-saw economy.
In the past 10 years, Gannon has been hired and laid off from more than 10 workplaces.
"My bosses don't respect my side of the story when something goes wrong," said Gannon, 35, seated in his Fullerton home. "They just write me up and then ask what happened. They should take me off to the side and discuss the problem."
It's not that Gannon isn't good at what he does, his mother, Daralyn, explained. He just has problems socializing. He knows he's doing his job, and expects everyone else to do the same.
That's one of the perils of Asperger Syndrome, an offshoot of autism that causes a patient to struggle with social skills and restrictive and repetitive behavior.
Lisa Murillo, the director of employment services for the Easter Seals Society, has been working with Gannon for two years, trying to find a job that will suit his skills.
"But it keeps coming back to computers," she said. "Joseph likes to work independently and make decisions by himself."
For that reason, the Troy High School graduate hopes to find a mentor who will work with him on developing his own home-based, computer-building business for private customers.
Paula Pompa-Craven, the regional vice president of the Easter Seals of Southern California, said Gannon would be well-suited for what Easter Seals calls "micro-enterprise."
"He's going along that path, but we just need to find someone to help," said Pompa-Craven, who noted the Regional Center of Orange County in 2007 provided services to 2,700 people diagnosed with autism.
Yet, unlike many of those who have been treated for the disease since childhood, Gannon wasn't diagnosed until he was 27 years old.
"Autism wasn't part of the English language when Joseph was growing up," Daralyn said. "He had a speech impairment, auditory discrimination and he could read, but didn't understand the meaning of words."
Gannon's parents took him to behavior modification classes at the Child Guidance Center in Fullerton, but Gannon didn't adjust to the program.
In the second grade, he couldn't handle the structure and confusion.
He was enrolled in the UCI live-in program that Daralyn said, "was a disaster."
"Joseph was tormented emotionally," she said. "When he went back to Commonwealth School, teacher Katie Reitzel took an interest. But classmates chose Joseph last on the team."
Gannon's father, Gerald, who is a math instructor at Cal State Fullerton, tried to help find a campus job for his son.
But that didn't work out.
The bewildered student attended Fullerton College, Orange Coast College Culinary Arts and worked in fast-food industry.
"Food services were frustrating because of the number of people who come in – and all the noise," Gannon recalled.
And even though he dislikes confusion, his favorite hobby is going to Disneyland.
Finally, at age 27, Gannon met his mother's friend who works with autistic students in the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District. She maintained it was autism, and recommended Gannon be tested.
The friend was right.
Several agencies stepped into the picture and provided some help. Eventually, it was the Easter Seals Autism Services that took a strong interest in Gannon's case.
He works several days a week at a small department store in Placentia. Easter Seals provides a job coach who works right alongside Gannon every minute of the work day.
The rest of the week, the skilled computer expert retreats to his home office where he enjoys computer programming, watching DVDs and listening to music.
"I just need somebody to help me get started in my own business," Gannon said. "I know I could handle everything."
And it would be in a quiet, non-threatening environment.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Autistic adult is an entrepreneur
Matthew Morreale, thought to be 1st local example of statewide trend, operates 1-man shredding business.
By SAM MILLER
The Orange County Register
Matthew Morreale's goals are simple. He wants to go to Disney theme parks in Paris, in Tokyo, in Orlando – so he works.
His mom hopes for more. She dreams of independence for her autistic son. She imagines that he someday will live in his own apartment, earning enough money to pay for it himself. She wouldn't worry so much about dying someday if she knew Matthew could do all that.
As the autism boom ages its way through the education system, thousands of Orange County children with autism will soon enter adulthood. Matthew Morreale, 24, could help answer a question that vexes advocates, politicians and parents of autistic children: Can we help these adults be more than a tax burden?
Matthew is thought to be the first local example of a statewide trend. He runs a microenterprise, a small niche business that can be launched with minimal funding yet make a steady profit.
There are adults with developmental disabilities running mall kiosks and selling hand-made bags. They own floral businesses and they stage puppet shows for children's parties.
Matthew runs the Matthew James Co., a shredding business that began this year with a single client but is already looking to hire additional employees. His brochure promises that he'll "shred the competition."
"Self-sufficiency and independence means not only lessening the impact on the budget, so they don't have to rely on social supports," said Dorsey Griffith, a spokeswoman for the state's department of developmental services. "These people are good workers, and they're happier when they're working and they're part of the community."
The growing prevalence of autism in Orange County schools is striking. There are 156 students who are 17 and have autism – a 500 percent increase from just six year ago.
Go down the line a few grades and the numbers grow. There are 334 students who are 11 years old with autism. Among 5-year-olds, the number is 507.
When Matthew was diagnosed at age 5, he was one of only a few in Orange County, and his future looked bleak.
He threw tantrums to the point that his mother, Marthe Morreale, wouldn't take him out in public. He couldn't shower alone until well into his teen years.
"You just go down this dark road of, oh my gosh, there's no future for this boy," Marthe Morreale said. "At that age, you aren't thinking future. It was hard thinking about 10 years' time when you can't get through the next 10 minutes."
With the help of some patient and strong-willed aides, Matthew calmed down during his teenage years. After high school, his job coach, Cassandra Novak, helped him get a retail job at a clothing store.
He enjoyed it, but grew frustrated that he couldn't get more hours. Novak, who is the microenterprise business development manager at Goodwill of Orange County, suggested he start his own business.
His first client was Atria Woodbridge, a senior living center in Irvine. Once a week he takes his shredder – about waist-high, and about 50 pounds – and shreds junk mail, old bills and business documents for residents and staff.
The center always has a cold Coke waiting for him. Residents sometimes come by to talk to him, though Matthew isn't very verbal with strangers. His mom drives him there but is forbidden from his workplace. "He's very independent," she said.
"He's the type of young man I'd like to have volunteer here, because he's a good listener and he takes an interest in the conversations," said Ladd Roberts, executive director of Atria Woodbridge.
In August, he'll expand to serve the Regional Center of Orange County, which has also helped provide startup support for his business. He'll shred thousands of pounds of center documents using Goodwill's industrial-sized shredding machines.
"He's for real, the real deal," said Bill Bowman, chief executive officer of the center, a state-funded organization that provides services and support for people with developmental disabilities. "They meet our very high confidentiality requirements."
His job coach was worried about the noise from the larger shredders. Like many people with autism, Matthew is sensitive to loud and unfamiliar noises, Novak said.
No problem, he told Novak. "When we're making noise, we're making money."
Novak and Matthew are considering hiring other developmentally disabled adults to help. Novak says he could eventually make $3,000 a month.
That income is a big deal to people with developmental disabilities, said Joe Meadours, executive director of People First, an advocacy group run by developmentally disabled adults.
"People are getting sick of getting paid nothing," he said. "How can we make a career earning 50 cents an hour?"
For Matthew, the money means fulfilling his own dreams of taking his family to Disney theme parks around the world. For now, he has to be content with his weekly visits to Disneyland on his days off.
"You know, if you think about it, that's probably as legitimate a goal as you and I have in our lives," Roberts said. "And he may come closer to realizing it before we do."
By SAM MILLER
The Orange County Register
Matthew Morreale's goals are simple. He wants to go to Disney theme parks in Paris, in Tokyo, in Orlando – so he works.
His mom hopes for more. She dreams of independence for her autistic son. She imagines that he someday will live in his own apartment, earning enough money to pay for it himself. She wouldn't worry so much about dying someday if she knew Matthew could do all that.
As the autism boom ages its way through the education system, thousands of Orange County children with autism will soon enter adulthood. Matthew Morreale, 24, could help answer a question that vexes advocates, politicians and parents of autistic children: Can we help these adults be more than a tax burden?
Matthew is thought to be the first local example of a statewide trend. He runs a microenterprise, a small niche business that can be launched with minimal funding yet make a steady profit.
There are adults with developmental disabilities running mall kiosks and selling hand-made bags. They own floral businesses and they stage puppet shows for children's parties.
Matthew runs the Matthew James Co., a shredding business that began this year with a single client but is already looking to hire additional employees. His brochure promises that he'll "shred the competition."
"Self-sufficiency and independence means not only lessening the impact on the budget, so they don't have to rely on social supports," said Dorsey Griffith, a spokeswoman for the state's department of developmental services. "These people are good workers, and they're happier when they're working and they're part of the community."
The growing prevalence of autism in Orange County schools is striking. There are 156 students who are 17 and have autism – a 500 percent increase from just six year ago.
Go down the line a few grades and the numbers grow. There are 334 students who are 11 years old with autism. Among 5-year-olds, the number is 507.
When Matthew was diagnosed at age 5, he was one of only a few in Orange County, and his future looked bleak.
He threw tantrums to the point that his mother, Marthe Morreale, wouldn't take him out in public. He couldn't shower alone until well into his teen years.
"You just go down this dark road of, oh my gosh, there's no future for this boy," Marthe Morreale said. "At that age, you aren't thinking future. It was hard thinking about 10 years' time when you can't get through the next 10 minutes."
With the help of some patient and strong-willed aides, Matthew calmed down during his teenage years. After high school, his job coach, Cassandra Novak, helped him get a retail job at a clothing store.
He enjoyed it, but grew frustrated that he couldn't get more hours. Novak, who is the microenterprise business development manager at Goodwill of Orange County, suggested he start his own business.
His first client was Atria Woodbridge, a senior living center in Irvine. Once a week he takes his shredder – about waist-high, and about 50 pounds – and shreds junk mail, old bills and business documents for residents and staff.
The center always has a cold Coke waiting for him. Residents sometimes come by to talk to him, though Matthew isn't very verbal with strangers. His mom drives him there but is forbidden from his workplace. "He's very independent," she said.
"He's the type of young man I'd like to have volunteer here, because he's a good listener and he takes an interest in the conversations," said Ladd Roberts, executive director of Atria Woodbridge.
In August, he'll expand to serve the Regional Center of Orange County, which has also helped provide startup support for his business. He'll shred thousands of pounds of center documents using Goodwill's industrial-sized shredding machines.
"He's for real, the real deal," said Bill Bowman, chief executive officer of the center, a state-funded organization that provides services and support for people with developmental disabilities. "They meet our very high confidentiality requirements."
His job coach was worried about the noise from the larger shredders. Like many people with autism, Matthew is sensitive to loud and unfamiliar noises, Novak said.
No problem, he told Novak. "When we're making noise, we're making money."
Novak and Matthew are considering hiring other developmentally disabled adults to help. Novak says he could eventually make $3,000 a month.
That income is a big deal to people with developmental disabilities, said Joe Meadours, executive director of People First, an advocacy group run by developmentally disabled adults.
"People are getting sick of getting paid nothing," he said. "How can we make a career earning 50 cents an hour?"
For Matthew, the money means fulfilling his own dreams of taking his family to Disney theme parks around the world. For now, he has to be content with his weekly visits to Disneyland on his days off.
"You know, if you think about it, that's probably as legitimate a goal as you and I have in our lives," Roberts said. "And he may come closer to realizing it before we do."
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