Evanston nonprofit paves career paths for individuals with asd
In some ways, Hannah Markscheid is your typical 19-year-old. She’s always on her phone or computer, she has a tedious part-time job and she’s getting ready to go off to college next fall. She’s even a die-hard One Direction fan, with some street cred on the boy group’s online forums. However, following the path of 7,000 others with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Hannah participates in Have Dreams, a local nonprofit that helps people with ASD transition into the professional workplace.
Over the course of Hannah’s life, the state of Illinois reports show a 20% increase of people with ASD. Have Dreams, among other nonprofits across Cook County, was founded in 1996 to provide programs that help those with the condition improve and develop social skills so that they may function independently and eventually transition into the workplace. In Illinois, people with autism lose health subsidies after the age of 21, making it imperative for them to find alternative income by then.
Born in Singapore, Hannah was diagnosed with ASD at the age of 6. She has two siblings, a 12-year-old sister, Sophie, and a 17-year-old brother, Josh, who also has ASD. Hannah and her family moved to the United States when she was 2 years old. She grew up in Wilmette and attended New Trier High School.
“Everyone was pretty supportive of me,” Hannah said of her time at New Trier, often looking off to the wall and apologizing profusely as she tried to remember. But according to her mother, Veronique Frede-Markscheid, the school lacked a focus on vocational skills that would have better prepared Hannah for the next step in her life.
After graduating, Frede-Markscheid sought out several local programs before deciding on Have Dreams where her daughter began work training. Since beginning the program, Hannah has held down multiple internships across Northwestern, including The Daily Northwestern and The Source. Like many others her age, Hannah is not sure what career path she wants to take, but Have Dreams has helped her rule out a few such as retail.
“Honestly, [retail] is not really what I want to do. I feel like the pressure kind of makes me really anxious,” Hannah said of her training.
Have Dreams has successfully transitioned over 7,000 of its participants into the workplace, and even has a few participants holding part-time positions across Northwestern’s campus.
Though the recorded number of people with autism in Illinois has increased, Peter Penzes, a professor of behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, believes the evolution of diagnoses accounts for this growth, not an actual increase in incidents.
“The kids that were diagnosed with other types of developmental delay could now be diagnosed with autism,” Penzes said of previous discrepancies in diagnosis.
According to Penzes, economic status plays an important role in early diagnosis. The ASD Foundation reported a 28% lower income on average for families that have children with autism. If not covered by Medicaid, the average cost of treatment in Cook County ranges from $2,000 to $4,000 per month, with a lifetime cost of up to $5 million. Others in the field attribute the disparity in diagnoses to cultural differences.
“They go hand in hand, because years ago it was thought that only wealthy people had children with autism, but they were the only ones who sought treatment and could afford it," said Kristina Johnsen, executive director of Have Dreams.
Have Dreams was founded by Johnsen and other parents who noticed a citywide void of resources when it came to people with ASD. Other Illinois nonprofits such as Easterseals and Aspire take a broad-stroke approach, serving individuals with all types of developmental disabilities. However, those with ASD require more targeted resources in order to develop social skills necessary to transition into the workplace.
“We just picked up the pieces and said ‘okay, we're going to start a social skills program,’” Johnsen said on founding Have Dreams with the parents from a special education class she was teaching at the time.
Have Dreams began on a shoestring budget in a dinky room above an ice arena, but thanks to a donation of $461,294 from Northwestern’s Dance Marathon charity, the nonprofit now has an office based in Evanston where a majority of its training and programs are conducted.
Though the nonprofit’s focus is professional training such as practical workplace skills, Hannah’s mother feels it has given more than just a grasp on employment practices.
“She is more relaxed, happier and engaged with life," Frede-Markscheid said of her daughter who spent most of her time at home after school. "In high school, she had minimal interactions with other students, but now she has talked with lots of students at Northwestern.”
According to Frede-Markscheid, Hannah even thought of staying home for her graduation and prom, a significant difference from the talkative, amiable person she is today.
A primary goal of Have Dreams is providing and perfecting its participants’ social skills. One exercise is showing prescreened news stories to the participants at the beginning of each day, after which they are required to comment on one of the headlines. Johnsen’s belief is that this exercise helps them with small-talk, a common area of struggle for those with ASD.
“I think ‘social currency’ is the term, and I think that’s perfect,” Johnsen said of familiarizing the participants with both national and local news stories.
Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Molly Losh researches the nature of language impairment in autism. She believes in the effectiveness of social exercises like the news story routine at Have Dreams.
“A primary area of impairment in autism includes difficulties reading people’s thoughts and emotions which can make it hard to talk about things that are jointly meaningful.” said Losh. “It makes it hard to infer if your conversation partner is interested in continuing.”
When it comes to socializing, the program emphasizes appropriate, and inappropriate, topics for the workplace. Since the ultimate goal of the program is to help participants find employment, a lot of the in-house training has a focus on everyday interactions such as introductions and conversation. The participants are encouraged to introduce themselves with a handshake to visitors that wander into the Evanston office. Though some of the participants comply reluctantly, others have become fond of the routine and sometimes initiate it themselves.
Walgreens donated a miniature replica of its store inside the Have Dreams building which is used to train individuals on positions such as cashiering, stocking and photography. The pharmacy chain has also hired several Have Dreams graduates to fill positions at one of its 9,000 locations.
Though Have Dreams has helped transition many people with ASD into the workplace, Johnsen believes that the positions offered by companies to those with the condition may be too streamlined and outright discriminatory in some cases.
A technology company from Highland Park, Aspiritech, has recently expanded to downtown Chicago and expects to hire 20 new workers, specifically ones with ASD. For Johnsen and others on her team, Aspiritech’s employment procedures often contribute to a stereotypical understanding of those with ASD as people who excel only at data-entry and computer science jobs.
“At least half of the people that come in feel the need to say they're not looking for a job in technology,” Johnsen said of Have Dreams applicants. "And why is it right to do that do them? It's a spectrum... The whole human race is a spectrum."
According to TJ DeSalvo, a former participant at Have Dreams and current trainer, people with ASD have also noticed this broad interpretation of the condition by mass employers, and share similar sentiments.
"You discount the experiences of someone because you assume they're going to be a certain way. It bothers me, even though they're trying to frame it in a positive way,” said DeSalvo.
Brenda Weitzberg, executive director at Aspiritech, denied these claims of a narrow hiring process. According to her, 11 of the 16 job coaches at Aspiritech are on the spectrum.
“There’s no one right job for everyone,” Weitzberg said. “Anyone who shows leadership and an act for helping others will end up in the job coaching position or even as a project lead.”
As Hannah wraps up her internship and prepares to go to Elmhurst College as a part of Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy (ELSA), a post-secondary certificate program for young adults with different abilities, she only has one thing on her mind.
“I gotta get better at cleaning my room,” she said after looking off at the wall for another minute and apologizing for taking her time. “It’s always a mess.”
