Re: 's 1 year anniversary working at The Great Canadian Soap Co.

[Guest guest]

Wow, all this is so wonderful to hear. I just had to take a moment and thank you

for sharing.

Trish

's 1 year anniversary working at The Great

Canadian Soap Co.

Today celebrated his 1 year anniversary working at The Great

Canadian Soap Co. He loves his job. He has worked 5 hours/day, Monday

to Friday, since May 17th 2010. He'll likely soon work more hours in

a day because they are busy enough to need him and he does such good

work, whatever the task at hand.

I couldn't have invented a job as perfect as this one is for .

The work itself is as diverse as cutting soap, bottle feeding baby

goats, computer data entry, packaging mail orders, labeling products,

greeting customers and running the video presentation and on and on.

His co-workers are wonderful and quickly learned to accommodate his

communication issues and the rest of his autism. In fact, his autism

is an obvious strength in this job - his attention to detail,

appreciation of routine & repetition, focus on the task at hand, etc.

It's also just 5K from our doorstep. The odds of having a job that

close, even having a business that close, where we live in rural

Prince Island isn't high. Most businesses in our area (and

they aren't that close) are seasonal, based on tourism, fishing or

farming. While they do get a lot of tourist traffic, they operate

year round in the Shop and through the mail.

Last summer I was dropping off at work with my bike and he biked

home. In February he started running home. This daily running is

paying off now at his weekend passion - the PEI RoadRunner races. In

the last few weeks he's set Personal Best times in his 5K, 10K and 5

Mile distances. This past Saturday he dropped 3:25 off his 5 Mile

time, a time he set in 2008. The week before he ran a Personal Best

5K in 18:22. His 10K PB is now 40:03.

He is still anxious to get to work every morning, takes great pride

in all he does there, and loves watching his bank account climb as

his running times fall. Like I said, I couldn't have invented a

better job for him.

His employer, Em Zember, is to be commended for giving the

opportunity. She's certainly not sorry she did! But really, it is

*Opportunities* that we need more than anything.

I'm not going to plug their wonderful products here except to say -

they hand make natural Goat's Milk Soap. If you want real soap (not

the " Soap " sold in stores today) or if you want or need 100% Natural

soap & skincare products, with scents or unscented, check them out.

They do have products with " Fragrance Oils " but they also have 100%

natural varieties (scented with " Essential Oils " or unscented) of

everything they make.

If you want to see what they're all about, and/or if you want to

" support " a great employer, sign up from their newsletter (they have

monthly contests there to win products - this month's involves naming

the soon to arrive baby goats!), or " Like " their Facebook Page or

Follow their Tweets...

There's links at the bottom of 's blog post about his " One Year

Anniversary working at The Great Canadian Soap

Company "

http://therunman.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-year-anniver

[Guest guest]

i wish to God our son was like this....Aric has his head stuck on that he is

going to draw anime cartoons and sell them to the little local newspaper.

this is insane, because 1.the paper is only a few pages long, and the few

bits of clipart are business oriented. the one cartoon is part of an ad for

a bank that caters to stockmen who graze cattle. 2. he is set in stone that

he will not even consider trying to draw something that would be of local

interest. 3. even though there is a newly opened business that is especially

set up for the disabled to make toys from precut pieces of wood, Aric will

not even discuss taking to the owner, or looking at the place...it reminds

him, i think, too much about the hell he went trhough at the public school,

which would not accept him as autistic-their stupid bookkeeping system paid

teachers differently depending on the childrens' Dxs, and with Aric on the

record as an ASpie, to them a learning disabiltiy only, and and not a

disabilty according to the ADA, they would never accept his service dog.

they stressed him to the point he has PTSD over any mention of the place,

has repudiated his service dog (though tell that to Diego...dogs dont know

about repudiation, and he still takes care of Aric, here at home.)

it hurts so much to see him in such a state...he sees his 19 year old

brother working, learning to drive, with lots of money to buy whatever he

wants. but Aric simply doesnt have what it takes to hold any kind of job,

except in a sheltered living sort of place. and he refuses it. besides, the

only other place like that has a waiting list of 5 years....my husband and i

have done all we can to try to help our son have the best quality of life we

can, but he just refuses any of our help, suggestions, and is unable to

come up with answers for himself. it hurts so much to see him like this

--

Gail, and Todd

Smooth Coated Collie SDIT

On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 3:55 PM, jypsy [ janet norman-bain ] <

jypsy@...> wrote:

> Today celebrated his 1 year anniversary working at The Great

> Canadian Soap Co. He loves his job. He has worked 5 hours/day, Monday

> to Friday, since May 17th 2010. He'll likely soon work more hours in

> a day because they are busy enough to need him and he does such good

> work, whatever the task at hand.

>

> I couldn't have invented a job as perfect as this one is for .

> The work itself is as diverse as cutting soap, bottle feeding baby

> goats, computer data entry, packaging mail orders, labeling products,

> greeting customers and running the video presentation and on and on.

> His co-workers are wonderful and quickly learned to accommodate his

> communication issues and the rest of his autism. In fact, his autism

> is an obvious strength in this job - his attention to detail,

> appreciation of routine & repetition, focus on the task at hand, etc.

>

> It's also just 5K from our doorstep. The odds of having a job that

> close, even having a business that close, where we live in rural

> Prince Island isn't high. Most businesses in our area (and

> they aren't that close) are seasonal, based on tourism, fishing or

> farming. While they do get a lot of tourist traffic, they operate

> year round in the Shop and through the mail.

>

> Last summer I was dropping off at work with my bike and he biked

> home. In February he started running home. This daily running is

> paying off now at his weekend passion - the PEI RoadRunner races. In

> the last few weeks he's set Personal Best times in his 5K, 10K and 5

> Mile distances. This past Saturday he dropped 3:25 off his 5 Mile

> time, a time he set in 2008. The week before he ran a Personal Best

> 5K in 18:22. His 10K PB is now 40:03.

>

> He is still anxious to get to work every morning, takes great pride

> in all he does there, and loves watching his bank account climb as

> his running times fall. Like I said, I couldn't have invented a

> better job for him.

>

> His employer, Em Zember, is to be commended for giving the

> opportunity. She's certainly not sorry she did! But really, it is

> *Opportunities* that we need more than anything.

>

> I'm not going to plug their wonderful products here except to say -

> they hand make natural Goat's Milk Soap. If you want real soap (not

> the " Soap " sold in stores today) or if you want or need 100% Natural

> soap & skincare products, with scents or unscented, check them out.

> They do have products with " Fragrance Oils " but they also have 100%

> natural varieties (scented with " Essential Oils " or unscented) of

> everything they make.

>

> If you want to see what they're all about, and/or if you want to

> " support " a great employer, sign up from their newsletter (they have

> monthly contests there to win products - this month's involves naming

> the soon to arrive baby goats!), or " Like " their Facebook Page or

> Follow their Tweets...

>

> There's links at the bottom of 's blog post about his " One Year

> Anniversary working at The Great Canadian Soap

> Company "

>

>

http://therunman.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-year-anniversary-working-at-great.html

>

> -jypsy

>

>

> ________________________________

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> Today celebrated his 1 year anniversary working at The Great

> Canadian Soap Co.

Congrads to !

There are too many junk products out there, and this seems to be

something that's " real " .

I make some of my own cosmetics, but I will definitely look at

this company. Specialty items are getting much easier to

purchase on-line.

- s0

[Guest guest]

> i wish to God our son was like this....Aric has his

> head stuck on that he is going to draw anime cartoons

> and sell them to the little local newspaper.

> this is insane, because

No, go back to Albert Einstein ( " Insanity is doing the same

thing over and over again and expecting different results. " )

Your son will eventually figure it out. Meanwhile he has a

drive to do something.

The fact that you can explain why this will not work is

apparently not enough to convince him.

If his idea of an occupation is some unprofitable aspect of the

arts, he will be like most other aspiring artists -- " and where

do you wait tables? " Actually that's not a bad career path,

because it allows the person to pursue xyr dreams while doing

something mundane for income.

Maybe the fact that he won't accept that it will not work is a

good thing. He can perhaps take that initiative and move it

somewhere. You just don't know where. Maybe it's because

you're not an artist with a tormented soul. (Neither am I.)

> 3. even though there is a newly opened business that is

> especially set up for the disabled to make toys from

> precut pieces of wood, Aric will not even discuss taking

> to the owner

It seems he has more common sense about the workplace than you

give him credit for!

> or looking at the place...it reminds him, i think, too

> much about the hell he went trhough ...

.... or maybe of a sheltered workshop. I presume it is not a

sheltered workshop, but if I were in his situation and that was

my choice, I'd be looking for something, anything, else. Or

just putting off the hard choices. It seems that if he accepts

that job, he would be immensely unhappy.

> but he just refuses any of our help, suggestions, and

> is unable to come up with answers for himself. it hurts

> so much to see him like this

Well, he isn't finding what he is looking for. What he does

find is difficult to say.

One suggestion, and I don't know if this will help, would be to

set your mindset along what is suggested by his course of

action. If working in the human pick-and-place machine toy

workshop is not satisfactory, perhaps small jobs may be worth

looking into. Or perhaps there is something akin to drawing

animae, although this seems more like a hobby. Whatever it is,

it seems like you are motivated to do something.

- s0

[Guest guest]

Gail, I would love to see some of your son's work. You'd be surprised that

he can actually make a living from that hobby. Depending on the quality of

his work... if he is able to create a storyline... so forth. I know someone

via twitter that makes her living as an inker, and she is on the Spectrum.

(This is especially a good field, if you can break into it, if you can draw

other people's work but have a hard time coming up with anything original.)

Another thing, prior to being diagnosed, I was into the local anime scene. I

knew a couple of people that created manga and webcomics and toured the

country and Japan. Made a real living off this " hobby. "

Btw, i'd be insulted if anyone suggested the only place I could be employed

was some place that only hire the disabled. I wouldn't be surprised if he

was too.

Melody

[Guest guest]

no, what i was hoping was that by going to the shop, he could expand the

things sold by selling his drawings and paintings. the problem with selling

anime where we live is that we live in a very rural area of Kansas, where

that sort of art isnt common or understood. the kind of drawing he does is

only on newsprint, with pencil , crayons, or bic pens, and wont change to

any other media....he is **very** set on what and how he does things, and

wont change. we've bought him all kinds of other art supplies, books,

easles...you name it. no change. hes stuck on pirates of his design, with a

storyline that is obviously a combo of LOTRO and Narnia. we've tried to

explain that its not legal to copy others work, that it has to be

original...no dice. he wants a life of his own, but without even the

lifeskills of a child under 10, that isnt possible, and he hates the idea

that he would have to live with a sibling after we are gone. we're done all

we can, but nothing has worked

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Melody Latimer wrote:

> Gail, I would love to see some of your son's work. You'd be surprised that

> he can actually make a living from that hobby. Depending on the quality of

> his work... if he is able to create a storyline... so forth. I know someone

> via twitter that makes her living as an inker, and she is on the Spectrum.

> (This is especially a good field, if you can break into it, if you can draw

> other people's work but have a hard time coming up with anything original.)

>

> Another thing, prior to being diagnosed, I was into the local anime scene.

> I

> knew a couple of people that created manga and webcomics and toured the

> country and Japan. Made a real living off this " hobby. "

>

> Btw, i'd be insulted if anyone suggested the only place I could be employed

> was some place that only hire the disabled. I wouldn't be surprised if he

> was too.

>

> Melody

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Why would Einstein (or anyone) say something like this?  Whatever happened to

perseverance, to " never giving up " , to " If at first you don't succeed, try, try

again " ...?  If people didn't keep trying, nothing would ever be invented,

or improved, in this world.  Very little of worth is ever accomplished on the

very first attempt.

________________________________

To: AutisticSpectrumTreeHouse

Sent: Wed, May 18, 2011 4:21:14 PM

Subject: Re: 's 1 year anniversary working at The Great

Canadian Soap Co.

 

No, go back to Albert Einstein ( " Insanity is doing the same

thing over and over again and expecting different results. " )

[Guest guest]

I believe that statement was meant in terms of doing exactly the same thing

in exactly the same way. Practice you typically adapt and keep trying new

methods trying to get your defined result. But I may be wrong too.

Melody

> Why would Einstein (or anyone) say something like this? Whatever happened

to

> perseverance, to " never giving up " , to " If at first you don't succeed,

try, try

> again " ...? If people didn't keep trying, nothing would ever be invented,

> or improved, in this world. Very little of worth is ever accomplished on

the

> very first attempt.

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

>

> To: AutisticSpectrumTreeHouse

> Sent: Wed, May 18, 2011 4:21:14 PM

> Subject: Re: 's 1 year anniversary working at The

Great

> Canadian Soap Co.

>

>

>

> No, go back to Albert Einstein ( " Insanity is doing the same

> thing over and over again and expecting different results. " )

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: Cristina Lara

Why would Einstein (or anyone) say something like this? Whatever happened

to

perseverance, to " never giving up " , to " If at first you don't succeed, try,

try

again " ...?

**I think the correct quote was (paraphrasing): " If you do things the same

way over and over again, don't be surprised if you keep getting the same

result. " Now if you like the result, great! But what if you want a different

outcome? Then you'd be well-advised to try doing things differently.

D.