Guest Post: Picking Our Teams

On Wednesday we read Michael’s inspiring story about how rewarding it can be to find the perfect employment match.  Ike Dealey has been working hard to create a company in the US that would also focus on highlighting the talents of employees on the spectrum.  You might remember reading about Autlabs in a post from a few months ago, and I’m so glad he’s finally here to tell the story in his own words.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ”

This is one of the most profound statements in our history. It’s an ideal worthy of our commitment. In practice however, we as Americans haven’t always abided by the principals set forth by our founders. It doesn’t say “white men” or “able bodied men”; it says “all men”. Throughout the history of our nation we’ve seen slavery, Jim Crow, women’s suffrage and hate crimes against those in the GLBT community. Although we’re grateful that Jim Crow is gone and slavery nearly so, we have yet to achieve true equality for any of these groups. We’re still working to ease racial tensions, to close the salary gap for both blacks and women and to secure equal rights for our GLBT brothers and sisters.

Imagine what it would be like to be a small part of bringing real change to the daily lives of all those affected by autism or other disabilities. Today there is a giant employment gap for people with disabilities. It is our responsibility to close this gap. Just as it required dedication and commitment to bring women the vote and to end Jim Crow, it will not be easy; however, what is the cost of doing nothing? Don’t you want to say, “I make a difference”?

When I created the AutLabs website several months ago, I knew it would be hard. I didn’t choose to do it because I thought it would be easy, I chose to do it because I can’t sit idly by while injustice is done to the people in my community. If we see injustice and we do nothing, are we not equally responsible?  As I’ve forged ahead with this project, I’ve discovered that I am not alone; we are not alone. You have shown me that there is a great movement of people eager to help create jobs for people with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, you only needed someone to point the way. Together we are solving the employment challenge. If you’d like to know more about how we’re meeting this challenge, please read our new article Picking Our Teams (pdf).