Latest / Mostly Middle Tennessee Business Podcast / When Autistic Kids Grow Up: Community, Independence & Purpose with Meredith Pettigrew :: Ep 295 The Mostly Middle Tennessee Business Podcast

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When Autistic Kids Grow Up: Community, Independence & Purpose with Meredith Pettigrew :: Ep 295 The Mostly Middle Tennessee Business Podcast · Mostly Middle Tennessee Business Podcast

0:00
Unknown: This is the mostly Middle Tennessee Business
0:03
Podcast, a podcast about Middle Tennessee business owners and
0:07
professionals. That's right, mostly. Yeah. So what is it?
0:13
Me or is like the allergies just come? Are they are they worse
0:17
off this year?
0:18
I think it's when the weather changes, like when it gets hot
0:20
again, like unreasonably hot. Things come back a lot
0:24
because everybody's coughing, and are you having that kind of
0:27
problem? I'm
0:28
like, why am I sneezing? I don't ever sneeze.
0:29
Yeah, it's crazy. Think of
0:31
COVID, like.
0:32
Yeah. So I mean, it's one of those things that you kind of
0:34
look at, and it's amazing to me that I don't feel like it's ever
0:41
been this bad. Maybe I'm just getting older. Like last year, I
0:44
had constant coughing fits. I thought there was something
0:48
wrong with my lungs. Oh no! Had them examined, x-rayed, and
0:51
they're like, "Oh no, it's just allergies. Like, really?
0:54
Oh, there's everything. I was on shots when I first moved here.
0:57
Were you? Yes. Did they work?
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I don't know. It just. You got to keep
1:01
going.
1:02
Yes, twice a week, two arm, two in each arm, and
1:05
there you go.
1:06
You know, I'll just deal with it.
1:09
So, those of you just tuning in, yes, this is the mostly Middle
1:11
Tennessee Business Podcast, powered by the It's Your Show,
1:15
or from the It's Your show.co studios, powered by Muletown
1:18
Bikes. Go see Vinny down down there on the square in Colombia.
1:22
Have you are you you go to Colombia much?
1:24
I don't, but I like the name Vinny. Yeah. So I'm Italian.
1:27
Vinnie Taveras. He's hey
1:28
yeah okay
1:29
Brazilian
1:30
oh
1:30
yeah
1:31
yeah I mean we're similar
1:33
yeah
1:34
people
1:35
there you know just a couple of countries over just
1:38
fine yeah they speak passionate
1:40
yeah they had a Brazilian people typically speak Portuguese, so
1:43
it's
1:44
not similar to Italian. Probably still good food, you know.
1:49
Okay, what was your Pettigrew? Doesn't sound Italian. No,
1:52
Deluzio.
1:53
Deluzio. Yeah.
1:54
See, there you go. I lost my identity when I when I took my
1:58
ex-husband's name. Right. So I got my horn still. That's it,
2:03
you know.
2:04
The voice you're hearing is Meredith Pettigrew, and she is
2:08
with the Autism Career Training
2:10
Yes
2:11
Institute Center
2:14
Career Training
2:15
Career Training. Yeah, Autism
2:16
Career Training Act. Yeah,
2:17
I would imagine that's intentional.
2:19
It is, yes, yes, and we're actually shifting, you know,
2:23
kind of like letting it sprinkle out that we are going to be
2:25
shifting our name, and that's kind of part of what we're going
2:26
to be talking about. Really? Yeah.
2:28
Ooh, so this is a scoop.
2:29
I know, right?
2:30
What's the What's the new name going to be?
2:32
Autism Community Training.
2:35
Oh, okay.
2:37
And that's kind of the issue with, you know, just autism. The
2:40
bigger question we're going to be talking about is, is is it
2:43
employment? Is it functional living? What what do we do?
2:46
Well, the funny thing is about that. Even even you know, over
2:49
the last, you know, you and I are probably around the same
2:52
age. We grew up in a time where autism wasn't as like readily
2:58
availablely diagnosed. I guess back in the '80s and stuff like
3:02
that, you had those kids in class that were just there. They
3:07
they were you know how did we define
3:09
odd,
3:09
odd, weird or whatever? I just
3:11
had no idea,
3:11
right? Because
3:12
even back then, the significance, even of just
3:16
disabilities, it just wasn't around me. I didn't I didn't see
3:19
it. You didn't see it.
3:20
Yeah, because you and I kind of grow up not in close proximity,
3:23
but we were both in the Northeast. I grew up in
3:26
Connecticut. You in Pittsburgh, I would imagine that's where you
3:29
spent most of your
3:30
yeah my
3:31
developing developing years. Let's say I like that. So when
3:37
it just seems like the frequency of autism is more these days,
3:43
and a lot of people say it's the what we call the sad standard
3:48
American diet. You know,
3:50
yeah. I mean, I'm not really in the. I've always said I'm not in
3:53
the business of figuring out where it comes from. I'm here to
3:56
to help it, so we can all kind of form our own opinions or
4:00
follow trends or follow you know research. I think we diagnose
4:04
better now,
4:05
right?
4:06
But yeah, it's it's different. It was not around, but I can now
4:10
knowing what I know, think back and think that person, yeah,
4:15
they were probably on the spectrum.
4:16
Well, I mean, especially with the ADHD diagnosis, that gets
4:21
thrown around a lot. Like, dude, every kid has got attention
4:25
deficit disorder. Oh, unfortunately now. Me too. I
4:27
mean, I biggest things that people complained about me and
4:30
guys don't please bear with me on my voice. He's damn. I've
4:34
been coughing for the past four days. I was always, you know,
4:40
labeled as when my parents went in to go get a parent-teacher
4:45
meeting, I think it was the bane of their existence because they
4:48
heard the same thing over and over again. Jimmy daydreams. He
4:50
doesn't pay attention. He doesn't listen. You know, I pay
4:54
more attention these days. That's about
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it. You learn well with anything. You learn to hide it.
4:58
You learn to control it. Oh, I manage
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it. I just accepted the fact that that that night was a
5:04
horrible night. Just you'd come home mad at me, and you got to
5:07
start paying attention. Yeah, nothing's ever. Nothing is a
5:10
game all the time, Jimmy. You know, you don't get to play all
5:13
the time. Yeah, you know, okay, yeah, you know. But how did you
5:19
get started in all this? What kind of led you down this path?
5:22
Yeah,
5:22
I always wanted to be a teacher my whole life. I went to school,
5:26
small school, junior out of college outside Penn State, and
5:31
I just want to be a teacher. And then I found it to be more
5:33
marketable if it was special ed. But again, I had no idea what
5:36
that is. And I walked into my first practicum, and I thought,
5:39
"Oh my gosh, I was scared. I didn't know what I was seeing or
5:44
hearing, and it was a lot. But it ended up obviously fabulous.
5:48
And one of the guys that was there was a high school. He was
5:53
like Rain Man, and I had seen the movie, and he-I mean-his
5:56
voice was so cool, and it just drew me to him. And I'm like,
5:59
"What autism? What is this? And so it was like a paragraph in my
6:02
textbook in college. Like it didn't. They didn't teach you
6:05
about autism. And every practicum I had every year after
6:08
that, I asked for the kids with autism, and no one ever wanted
6:11
that. And I just flooded with it. I loved it.
6:14
Yeah.
6:15
And so it started in college, and then just grew and grew
6:18
exponentially after that.
6:20
So initially going on the teaching path,
6:22
yeah,
6:22
public school that kind of thing, and then you had to you
6:25
you got that was still back in the time where you needed a
6:28
master's.
6:30
Well, you didn't need it, but I I ended up getting
6:33
it right
6:33
because I out of college I had early childhood in elementary I
6:37
needed the special, so I would have to do a whole other year of
6:41
college, and that's crazy. So I just went and got my master's,
6:44
and I mean, you don't have to have your master's. And now you
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heard that you
6:47
did.
6:48
They pass it out now like flyers on the Vegas Strip. That's what
6:52
I feel like. Yeah, it's like, hey, you want to teach? Come on,
6:54
you can do it in a year. And I'm like, that's
6:56
kind of how I feel like high school is now.
6:59
Well,
6:59
you know,
7:00
just push you through it.
7:02
Well, I mean, high school to me is like you know my kids. I'm on
7:04
my last child in high school. She just started right over here
7:08
at Summit, and
7:11
oh, yeah,
7:12
it's you know, I'm not I'm not trying to throw shade on any of
7:14
the any of the teachers or anything. I know that it's
7:16
that's had a tremendous amount of time in the last you know
7:20
decade or two decades with just teachers not being paid enough
7:23
and stuff like that, and it's becoming more like just like
7:27
babysitting. You know,
7:29
it's quite different. Yeah. And when my kids come home and talk
7:31
to me, I have a junior at Summit and a sophomore at UTC, and I'm
7:36
like, you're not going to get any sympathy from me.
7:38
Okay, so let me ask you this: When you're sophomore at UTC,
7:42
when they grad, they graduate from Summit. Okay, because my
7:45
daughter's going to be a junior.
7:46
Okay, it
7:47
seems like the challenge was so diametrically opposed from one
7:52
going from from high school and then the next one going into
7:55
college. That seemed to be the same case with you. Like all of
7:59
a sudden, oh wow, this is really challenging and difficult.
8:02
Um, I don't know. My daughter kind of just constantly just
8:07
rises to the occasion of that. I'm like, oh, she's like, she's
8:11
like, she's great. She just morphs into it. Yeah. But yeah,
8:14
the the workload is different. But she became more serious
8:17
because she had something she was going toward.
8:19
She had a why. Yeah. She she knows why she was there. Okay,
8:22
when you don't have a
8:23
why, it's like when am I doing this?
8:24
Right? Why am I waking up? Yeah, that's one of the things that
8:27
we're kind of you know going through right now and working
8:30
through with our daughter. And I've told her, I'm like, look,
8:32
when you don't know why you're getting up in the morning, you
8:35
know, of course you're not. It's it's a it's a recipe for
8:37
failure. It's a job. Yeah, you're obligated. You know, and
8:40
your your job is to get look if you're there and you got all the
8:44
bills paid and everything, and you know scholarships, just
8:47
freaking go. Yeah, you know, and it's a tough life lesson if you
8:50
don't. But I've I've just come upon this realization lately
8:54
that you know high school's job is to get them out as quickly as
8:57
possible because they don't want them hanging around.
9:00
No,
9:00
you know, because then you got to build more facilities and
9:02
more resources. They get start getting overcrowded, yeah. And
9:04
in college, is to keep them there as long as possible. Sure,
9:07
there you go, right? If
9:08
they want more of our right, our money and our resources, right?
9:12
I mean, does that seem the case to you?
9:14
Yeah, I mean, I try to tell my son, like, like high school is
9:18
preparing you for life. You don't think so, but it's
9:20
preparing you for your job. It's preparing you, like this stuff.
9:24
Like, yeah, I didn't. I don't use half the stuff I learned in
9:26
in high school, but like somewhere along the line, it
9:28
shaped me and made me more human and more well-rounded.
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11:00
How long did you spend in public schools and teaching and stuff
11:02
like that? Tell me how it culminated.
11:04
Yeah, 24 years.
11:06
Wow.
11:06
Yeah, it's my whole life. I've always, I just always consider
11:11
myself. I'm a teacher.
11:12
How did it? I mean, what was the trajectory of when you realized?
11:16
Okay, this was it. One of those things like, hey, I just need a
11:18
new challenge, or this isn't working anymore.
11:21
Well, I've always thought differently than most people,
11:24
and approached education and my students differently. And a lot
11:27
of people don't like they don't like change. They don't like
11:30
difference. They don't like being uncomfortable. And so, you
11:35
know, you kind of you want me to go from like the short
11:37
trajectory of like all the things. So yeah, I was a
11:40
teacher, and after four years, I kind of tapped out on autism,
11:43
and I wanted more of a challenge. And I took a position
11:46
as a director of a residential school for autism, and learned a
11:51
lot there. Brought a lot there, and then from there, I shifted
11:55
and moved on to a school. It was a private day school that served
12:00
kids with emotional behavior disorders, and there I learned
12:02
more about mental health and the impact of trauma. And wow, even
12:07
if you have autism, you're you can be impacted by trauma, and
12:10
you still it still needs to be like dealt with. And then I went
12:14
back into the public school and was a behavior consultant and
12:17
really tried to like hone in on the kids that like everyone just
12:21
thought we're jerks and we're bad, and I never saw that. It
12:24
was this kid. Wow, what's going on with this guy? Like, let's
12:27
talk about that. Let's work on that. And really, if I got on my
12:30
soapbox and talked about public school, would just be that we
12:32
are not serving our youth and the mental health crisis. We
12:37
aren't, and I I realized fine, okay, people say that's not
12:39
school's job, but it's it's our job as a community to support
12:43
that and make change. And so I I just pushed for that as a
12:45
behavior intervention teacher and setting up what I felt and I
12:50
saw was needed. And it it's not what school system is for
12:57
academics,
12:58
right? And
12:58
so every avenue, it's like you know. I'm like, no. I want the
13:02
difficult kids. I want autism. I want the hard behavior, and
13:08
they're like, well, hey, can you go do this reading program?
13:11
They're they're trying to basically you know apply their
13:14
resources to where it's needed because they're trying to find
13:17
more resources because the teaching profession is
13:20
challenged right now.
13:21
It's it's you know intensely stretched and challenged, but
13:25
it's not all about academics,
13:27
right?
13:27
And every meeting we're ever in as a teacher, we talk about
13:31
behavior.
13:31
But you know, it's not to I don't not again devil's advocate
13:34
here. Sure, you know you got to apply a level of
13:36
standardization, and it's there's a specialty with
13:40
everything. You know, every student could be handled
13:42
differently. You know, when I sold Mercedes and I was heavy
13:45
into the sales side of things, we learned different sales
13:49
techniques to apply to different customers' personalities:
13:53
visual, audio, auditory, kinesthetic, vac. And you listen
13:59
to the little keywords, and you would adjust your approach per
14:03
customer. Of course, you can't do that for a classroom full of
14:05
kids. You have to go. You know, well, we're
14:08
taught to. You're taught to because we are so, and that's
14:11
where I go. No, we're supposed to.
14:13
Right,
14:13
and that's the push and the drive and the exhaustion. I was
14:15
like, no, that we're supposed to. This is what is best for
14:18
them, and they deserve that. And then it it makes me even more a
14:22
little crazy when it comes to disabilities. Like, no, no, I'm
14:25
gonna fight, and I'm gonna fight for what's right for that
14:27
individual. Sometimes I fight as if I'm a parent, and that's kind
14:31
of the that's a good teacher. So makes you a good teacher. Yeah,
14:34
yeah.
14:34
You know, the good teachers are. We had. Are you familiar with
14:38
the schools over here? One of my favorite guys is mr. Savelik.
14:43
Oh yeah, uh huh. That's my daughter's favorite teacher,
14:45
dude.
14:46
He's everybody's favorite teacher,
14:47
right? Must be a good reason.
14:48
He got up and did the they did the whatever they called it the
14:53
ceremony at the end of the year. They're trading up, trading up.
14:56
Well, you know,
14:57
yeah, they're moving on, moving up ceremony, the move. Up,
15:00
Sarah. There you go. And the principal, all reserve comment.
15:05
She did her speech, which was like everybody was looking at it
15:08
like scratching. Oh, okay. This is an ironic look at her own
15:12
life, and okay, whatever. And then he got up and made a
15:16
speech.
15:16
Yeah,
15:17
he not only knocked it out of the park, he abandoned what he
15:22
was initially going to say and just riffed.
15:25
Wow!
15:26
And I'm like, dude. And I've had him on this podcast. So if you
15:29
go back, if you're listening, I would say about a year or so
15:32
ago, maybe a little, a little bit longer. mr. Savelik, Greg
15:36
Savelik was on. Interesting spelling. You can't miss it. But
15:40
one of the most well-received episodes we've ever had, because
15:43
he's truly a guy who gives a damn.
15:44
Yeah,
15:45
you know,
15:45
and your students know.
15:46
Yeah,
15:47
they know when you care,
15:48
right?
15:49
And they're going to seek you out.
15:50
And it's really, it's funny because students will know, and
15:53
they'll carry that the rest of their lives.
15:55
Absolutely,
15:55
you know, who who really gave a damn,
15:58
and that's the kind of teacher. That's why I wanted to be a
16:00
teacher. I wanted to make it fun. I hated school. I wanted to
16:04
make it fun. I said you wanted
16:05
to be a teacher because you hated school. Yes,
16:07
but I wanted to make it fun. I knew I could make it fun. I
16:09
wanted people to enjoy their life because you're not going to
16:11
get out of it. But yeah, I want to. I want to be remembered. I
16:15
want to be one of those teachers that someone thinks back and
16:18
goes, "I remember Miss Pettigrew, man. Remember when
16:20
she brought the tahini in? She had us earn, you know, tickets,
16:24
and we got to put tahin on our fruit at lunch. Do you remember
16:27
your bad
16:28
teachers?
16:29
Every single
16:31
one. The names of the academic
16:32
go from kindergarten up.
16:34
See, that's you remember the good ones and the ones that are
16:37
kind of indifferent. You're like, yeah. What was her name?
16:40
Yeah,
16:40
yeah.
16:41
All of or you're talking to a friend, and they're like, "Oh
16:43
yeah, I hated her, or "Oh, she was tough, or such strong
16:46
reactions. Top, yeah, yeah, like really powerful. There
16:49
was one guy in my middle school, mr. Golden. I it's not that I
16:53
didn't I dislike him. I see what he was doing now, and still
16:56
there's a part of me that says, "Well, maybe not, but he was a
17:00
Vietnam vet, and in middle school, we called it junior high
17:05
school back then. Some kid didn't stand for the flag, the
17:09
pledge.
17:10
Oh, okay.
17:10
And he went shit. I mean, off the rails. Just you know, my my
17:17
friends died, and I carried their bodies off the field so
17:20
you can sit your ass down and do what you're doing now. Get, I
17:23
mean, just I wasn't in the classroom, but I think I was
17:26
like three of the classrooms down, and we could hear them.
17:30
And it's like you look at that and you go, I could see your
17:34
point, but
17:39
I mean, I we teachers don't talk to kids like that anymore, and
17:44
if they did, oh my gosh, yeah, their parents would be. That's
17:46
what made us
17:46
Gen X, man.
17:47
I know, like we we can handle anything now.
17:50
Yeah, but he was one of these guys that would, you know, he
17:55
said it to me one time because he taught algebra, and I look at
17:59
what he said as a negative motivator, I guess is the best
18:04
way to say it. McCarthy, you keep doing this kind of stuff,
18:09
you're never going to do anything in life. Something like
18:12
along one of like one of those comments.
18:13
Sure,
18:14
and I'll never forget the way he said it. And as an adult, you go
18:17
back and measure it and say, okay, did you really mean that,
18:20
or were you trying to be just a hard ass military motivator?
18:25
5050. Yeah, it could be either way.
18:28
Or you just like really that hateful
18:31
because people are hateful. Teachers are hateful.
18:33
Yeah.
18:34
Oh yeah.
18:34
Really. Oh
18:35
yeah. Bring in some students. They'll tell you there are a lot
18:38
of teachers that are hateful. I mean, I'm definitely not doc. I
18:42
mean, I mean, the
18:42
original like motivation to get into what they're doing, I
18:46
guess,
18:46
right? It
18:47
morphs over time,
18:49
right? But it's like, did you really get into it for the right
18:51
reasons, the right passion, the right why, or were you like, oh
18:54
yeah, if I go and do this for a year, I can get a degree in
18:57
teaching? Yeah, I'm like, and you're signing up for like a lot
19:01
more than you think you are, yeah. I mean, there's amazing
19:03
teachers out there, but there are teachers that you feel like
19:06
you could probably move on, yeah, for sure. When
19:10
did it? So when did everything kind of happen for you? Where
19:12
you're like, I'm kind of done here.
19:14
Well, I have always loved what I did, always, and last year was
19:21
the hardest year of my entire career, and it wasn't like any
19:28
particular. It wasn't like a student student's fault. It was
19:32
just the type of disability they had, and what came with that. I
19:40
mean, I'm used to grown men coming at me physically and
19:43
being able to manage that, or using my, you know, my being a
19:48
smartass to like turn them and do all the things. But that it
19:51
just was such a super tough job for me. I just felt beat down
19:54
every single day and hated my job. And my assistant was the
19:57
same way. We both just did not like. We, I was like, I'm just
20:01
gonna go work at Kroger. It's fine. I'm gonna go. I don't know
20:03
what I'm gonna do, and so I found a school. I moved on, and
20:07
it wasn't the right fit, but I got what I needed out of it,
20:11
which was to love teaching again. And that's been like this
20:14
shift this year of realizing I am a human. I'm not a teacher.
20:19
Like I'm not a teacher. I'm a human who teaches. Like I've had
20:23
that distinction for myself this year. Is that just teaching is
20:26
what I do. It's not who I am. And my whole life, it's been who
20:29
I am. And I've had to shift. Yeah, yeah. And I've had to
20:33
shift that. There are other things in the world. I joke. I
20:35
say when I do conferences, I'm like, my tombstone is not going
20:38
to say I was a great teacher. It's going to talk about me
20:40
being as a person and a mom, and so I feel like along the way
20:43
those things got shifted for me, and I focused a whole lot more
20:46
on my job and my students than I did my own family, my own
20:49
children, and so anyway, yeah, I got filled back up, loved
20:54
teaching again, and I was like, but this isn't the place, and oh
20:57
no, what do I do? And it took just one email to Autism Career
21:02
Training. I worked with them as a company when they were Autism
21:06
Foundation of Tennessee, and they did behavior therapy. I ran
21:09
their their summer camps for the little kids, and I was like, you
21:13
know, I'm just gonna call her and see what she's doing. And
21:16
she's like, actually,
21:18
funny. You should need to come
21:19
in and talk to us. I was like, "What? And then it just was the
21:24
right place at the right time. And now I'm like, "This is the
21:27
best thing in the whole universe. I don't have to, you
21:31
know, go through all the red tapes and the things. And we can
21:35
really focus on what we need to do for adults instead of trying
21:39
to focus on what we I need to do for kids, but having to do all
21:42
these other X, Y, and Z things in the school system,
21:45
and it's a nonprofit.
21:46
It's a nonprofit, right?
21:48
And basically trying to get out there and make sure it's funded
21:51
and everything,
21:51
all the things. Yeah, the Autism Foundation of Tennessee has been
21:55
around for over 20 years, and it's evolved in its pockets of
22:00
where the mission is and what it serves, and this particular area
22:05
now is just adults.
22:08
Now, autism define how like what's the clinical definition
22:13
approach to it.
22:14
Well, that's put me on the spot now. So you have to have a delay
22:18
in communication, some sort of communication issue of either
22:21
being verbal or receptive language. You have behavioral
22:25
repetition going on. Whether a lot of people like when they're
22:29
younger, they'll cue in like someone's lining up cars,
22:33
staring at ceiling fans. Where like a baby does look at a
22:36
ceiling fan, but when you like obsessively and can't, your
22:40
attention won't go anywhere else? Like that's a problem. So
22:42
like hyper focus on things is something to look out for.
22:47
Is OCD a part of that?
22:48
It's it's it's there are those characteristics are part of it.
22:53
Characteristics of ADHD, characteristics of ODD. Like
22:56
there's just characteristics that are in there, and I think
22:59
it's probably hard for clinicians. Well, that might be
23:01
easy for them, but to differentiate when it's just
23:04
ADHD or when it's ADHD and autism.
23:07
See, as I've learned about autism, it seems to me almost
23:10
like like a superpower. Oh yeah, because they're like genius
23:15
level thinkers, but in one specific area.
23:18
And it depends because, and we say the autism is a spectrum.
23:22
Every you know that saying that is kind of cheesy to me now, but
23:25
every person with autism is different. Yes, they are.
23:27
They're all very different. Whereas there are a lot of
23:30
people that have those hyper focuses and are really good, but
23:34
then there's others that don't have that, and they have other
23:37
things that they're they're dealing with. So yeah, the media
23:40
is going to be like Rain Man or The Good Doctor. There's a lot
23:44
of publicity now on autism, showing what it looks like in
23:49
varying degrees. Atypical is a great show on HBO. I believe
23:53
that those are Beautiful
23:55
Mind.
23:55
Beautiful Mind, yeah, all of that stuff. And then you have
23:57
all these, you know, celebrities that are coming out and saying
24:00
that they're on the spectrum, and you know, I think we all
24:03
have a little.
24:04
Yeah, I would say a
24:05
little something.
24:06
Yeah,
24:06
that we're, and it's but it's when it becomes a hyper issue,
24:10
like it's a really big issue that you can't shift off of. Is
24:13
that's when there's the the concern.
24:15
What's the criteria of people coming into your program? What
24:18
does it autism mean? Autism in general. Yeah,
24:20
you got to be diagnosed with autism. There are other programs
24:23
that do work with other individuals with disabilities,
24:26
which we happen to be on property of another company that
24:30
works with an array of disabilities. Right, but we're
24:32
specific to autism. We do have two individuals that also have
24:37
Down syndrome as a combined, and then you're going to have like
24:41
just the co diagnoses of ADHD or OCD things like that, but it's
24:47
primarily autism.
24:49
Well, I'll ask you know when you're when you're going through
24:56
this, what's what's like a milestone that might seem tiny
24:59
to somebody. On the outside, but huge to your team and the
25:02
family.
25:03
Oh, I mean, it's different for everyone. It could be maybe a
25:09
parent that walks their child up to the door every day, but one
25:14
day they walk into the door and they push the doorbell
25:16
themselves.
25:17
Oh, really?
25:17
So it's building that independence of you. You can do
25:19
this by yourself. So just sitting in the parking lot.
25:22
Okay, go. You walk. They can walk on their own to the front
25:25
door. We do a lot of cooking, so hopefully transferring some of
25:29
that cooking to home, and we really work on that functional
25:33
daily living skill. So things that they can do on their own
25:36
and then take it home make their life easier, make parents' life
25:40
easier too.
25:41
What is it that you look like? What's the goal for the next
25:44
510, years for you guys? The
25:46
goal is just to be a place where adults can come and thrive and
25:52
learn and be happy. There's no like, oh, they have to have this
25:57
many skills and then they graduate. It's nothing like
25:59
that. It's just a continuum of of support and care.
26:04
So essentially, you're you're there always. Hey, you come in
26:07
the door, you're always going to be part of the family, so to
26:09
speak.
26:09
Absolutely.
26:10
You know, we'll help you. You know, get ready for the
26:12
community as well as a career. What type of careers have been
26:17
placed out of there? So that's
26:19
kind of been the dilemma, if you will, from when this adult part
26:27
of the company took over and started, is that was the initial
26:30
drive was to work on employable skills, working on vocational
26:34
skills, and so they saw like just not they weren't building
26:38
them, but it's not because they weren't doing a good job. It was
26:41
just because of the type of individual they had. So we said
26:44
autism is a spectrum. Well, we have 15 individuals in our
26:48
program. So within those 15 guys or girls, we have an array of
26:53
skills where we might have one student right now. I keep see. I
26:57
go back to the student. I have to keep. I keep saying guys.
27:00
They're adults who could have a job with a job coach. We have
27:03
several that couldn't, but we go in the community and volunteer.
27:07
So it's like a job to them, and they love it and they thrive on
27:10
it. But you know, it's not. They don't get paid. We get paid via
27:14
like chicken at Waldo's. So we we volunteer at Waldo's Chicken
27:18
in Franklin, and it's amazing to watch. They just are so happy to
27:23
be there, and the workers are like, "Wow, this is really cool.
27:26
What are they doing? I was like, "They're prep. We prep for the
27:29
morning. We prep for your rush. So yeah, it's just this
27:35
continuum of care and support, and not really ever necessarily
27:39
achieving a job. And that's where we're talking about
27:42
shifting our name to community instead of career. We don't want
27:44
to give the perception to the the public, like, oh, I'm going
27:47
to call them. I have higher functioning autism. I'm going to
27:49
call them, and they can help me, like job coach me and help me
27:53
with interview skills
27:54
and
27:54
things like that. That's very well needed, and no one's out
27:57
there doing it. That's the thing. There's what's out there
28:01
for adults? That's the problem. And one company can't do it all.
28:05
One place can't do it all. So, just as I know, as a teacher, I
28:09
was like, "No, I'm honing in, and I'm going to go in this
28:12
direction. That's where we are trying to decide what direction
28:17
we can't do
28:18
it all. Right.
28:18
So right now, it's about community engagement and
28:21
community support, getting the guys out, not just going to
28:25
Kroger. I've been trying to. One of my new little taglines is
28:29
like, "We're not going to say like, 'Oh, where are we going
28:31
today? We are saying, 'What are we teaching today? We're going
28:33
to Publix to pick up our groceries, but we're not going
28:36
to just like walk you through and tell you what to get. You're
28:38
going to have a sheet, just like you would if your wife sent you
28:41
the grocery store, you have a checklist which you're used to
28:45
doing in school. So now we're transferring those skills. You
28:48
have a checklist, and you're going in with a schedule
28:50
basically to Publix, and you find your things. You use your
28:55
credit card, pay for it, and you come
28:58
home. And it's basically those types of life skills, general
29:01
things like that, engaging in the community, volunteering-that
29:07
may lead to an employment opportunity at some point.
29:11
Essentially, is what you are kind of doing. Yeah,
29:13
absolutely. Yeah, I said that focus isn't on the career skills
29:18
because it has hadn't been going anywhere, and so how can we
29:22
still work on those things, but the focus just be on the
29:26
experience, the engagement, and enriching their lives? So that's
29:31
what we're that's trying to strive for. Yeah,
29:34
and then you know, number of participants. How do you want,
29:38
like, as far as growing it in terms of staff, things of that
29:42
nature, I mean, you know, so
29:44
tough. How much?
29:46
How much staff do you need per man? As
29:49
many as we can get. Really. So I will say. So I've only been the
29:52
executive director since the end of June. Right. So I'm new in
29:55
this role. Sure. You know, and I come in. I'm like, oh, that's we
29:58
need more staff and. Of course, the founder and the operation
30:02
directors go. Where's that money coming from?
30:05
Right,
30:06
but it's like, well, that's what we need because that's always
30:08
me. That's what we need, and they're like, but where? How are
30:11
we funding it? And so there isn't a perfect like ratio
30:15
number. So, for example, we have like we have 15, but on any
30:21
given day we might have like the most of 1212, individuals. And
30:25
so let's say we've got we've got four staff. Well, we also just
30:30
we just had two two new hires, so we have a teacher and three
30:35
co teachers, and so then we have the community engagement
30:38
coordinator community engagement coordinator coming in, and she's
30:43
going to take them out to Waldo's. So she takes them out
30:45
to Waldo's, but she has to take one of our staff with her, one
30:48
of the staff during the day. So that's two people out in the
30:50
community. So now that's three staff left back at the building
30:53
with, say, nine individuals. You feel like that's pretty good
30:58
ratio, but what happens if there's a behavior, what happens
31:03
if just what happens if things can come up all the time? We
31:09
really try to run a very structured schedule for the
31:11
guys. So, like we do rotations in the morning where they'll be
31:14
working on leisure skills, they'll be working on just any
31:17
type of other skill area, and then cooking. So that's three
31:20
staff, but we're having to watch guys that are roaming and moving
31:25
and doing this. Now all of our doors are locked. We have keypad
31:30
entry and exit because we we we can't monitor all the doors. So
31:37
it just becomes, yeah, that's a tough question.
31:41
Yeah,
31:42
makes me squirm. Well,
31:43
that's the thing is like you being new in the position.
31:48
Initial challenges that you're like, okay, we need to address
31:50
this. Anything like that popping up, and I glaring at all, or no
31:57
things that I just have have addressed are like this needs to
32:01
be structured better for independence. We're not
32:05
caregivers. We're not respite. We we're not just like hanging
32:08
out. Like we are, everything we do is for teaching purpose to
32:13
enrich their lives. So just structuring that from like my
32:17
knowledge and my experience of what I know from the school
32:19
system and what I'm bringing into it, so just restructuring
32:23
the way we we teach. We've got one woman who just started with
32:26
us, and she's been a TA in the public school. She's a mom.
32:31
Actually, our daughters are roommates last year in college.
32:35
She's great. She she supports all the things, but she doesn't
32:38
know the teaching aspect. So she was, for example, we've got one
32:42
of the trainees. Really, if he sees food, he'll go for
32:47
it.
32:47
And she's like, "No, I really want him to be a part of this
32:50
movie day. I really want him to do it. I'm like, "Get everyone
32:54
on board. Fine, go for it, right? She's initiating, do it,
32:58
okay. And so she's like, okay, so I'm gonna give him his
33:01
popcorn, and when he wants more, he's he's gonna ask me for it.
33:05
How's he gonna do that? He can't talk. So so she's like, oh, I
33:09
didn't think about that. So it's teaching her to have those
33:13
stronger components, teaching you know all of us. But that's
33:16
just one example that comes to mind last Friday, which it was a
33:19
successful movie day with popcorn, no drama.
33:21
What movie did you watch?
33:24
Put me on the spot. I don't know. I was in the office. There
33:25
was no drama. What did they watch? Oh, that's embarrassing.
33:28
I don't know. She'll call me. You got a big job. Maybe got a
33:32
little
33:32
responsibility. And I was in and out
33:34
watching their. Are you in
33:35
charge of like helping market and fundraise?
33:37
Yeah, all of
33:38
it. Nice.
33:39
Yes, it's. Is that a
33:40
first for you?
33:42
Ish.
33:43
Yeah.
33:43
Like I love social media. I love doing the posts. I just I love
33:48
it. We are gearing up. We have a big benefit coming up at the end
33:51
of September. Oh, really? At Top Golf, actually, yep, swings for
33:56
the spectrum. So I, the founder Karen Blake, she said, "Hey, can
34:00
you make me a flyer? Absolutely, I love that. That's right. So
34:03
made made a flyer and ChatGPT. ChatGPT helped, and I had to
34:07
yell at him and tell him you need to change it. But started
34:11
that, helped her with that, and so and it's stuff I love. So I'm
34:16
I'm into that, and then learning from other people.
34:18
What's the Instagram handle? Just that's the reason why I'm
34:21
not. I'm making yeah.
34:22
Hey, I could be real fancy. You could scan my QR code.
34:25
Q sure.
34:26
Oh yeah, I'm. I've got one of
34:28
those too.
34:29
Oh, you do. We'll have
34:30
to do. Do you know it off the top of your head? I want to put
34:31
you on the spot again.
34:32
Oh yeah, no, it's autism. It's autism career training. It's
34:36
very hard.
34:36
Career
34:38
training. Yeah, I
34:39
always do like live viewings and assessments.
34:43
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. On the episode,
34:46
autism career training. Hello,
34:47
that's right.
34:49
Profiles, right? There we go.
34:51
Our little purple and our golf follow
34:54
button. Why not? Yeah.
34:58
Yeah. Yeah. Trying to. Engage, you know, get that out more with
35:03
Instagram and Facebook. Just more engagement and posting more
35:07
regularly. And I mean, I didn't go to school for that, so I
35:09
don't know. I'm just doing what I think. We've got someone that
35:12
does work with us on putting out that on social media, but I, I
35:17
don't know if I hijacked it, but I wanted to do some more. I was
35:20
going to say,
35:21
you know, you should come by and be a guest of mine at my BNI. We
35:26
have a nonprofit seat, but right now, some our very great John
35:31
Myers is in the seat. He has a nonprofit for Christian
35:35
approaches to pregnancy.
35:37
Okay,
35:38
and he was on the podcast about a month or two ago, and it was
35:44
it was a good good good conversation with him. But
35:47
either way, just to kind of get and you know there could be a
35:50
chance for collaboration. You never know. Oh
35:52
yeah.
35:53
But anytime you want to be a guest of mine,
35:55
absolutely. Yeah.
35:56
Every Wednesday morning is when we meet up at the Elks Lodge in
35:59
Franklin. Okay. But a good way to spread the word.
36:01
Yeah, absolutely. And it's we we originated in Brentwood, so I
36:06
think the name is a little more out there than it is here in
36:08
Franklin.
36:09
Right.
36:09
And so getting it out there, and it's like who you know and who
36:13
you know, and you know, hey, send them to our Facebook, send
36:16
them to our Instagram, and this is what we do because the
36:19
question's going to be, well, what do you know? Or the
36:21
question is, what's out there for adults with autism?
36:24
Yeah.
36:25
Hey, there's this place in Franklin. You should call them
36:29
because there's a lot of resources for kids with autism.
36:32
Yeah, putting
36:32
them in the right track.
36:33
Absolutely.
36:34
But once they get out of high school, there's nothing.
36:36
That's it. Right. Yeah. And so we don't compete with high
36:39
school. So we only take individuals that our youngest
36:42
just turned 22.
36:44
Okay.
36:44
So once they graduate the t2 program in the in the schools,
36:50
they'll seek us out. We have one that just started. They
36:53
graduated this past year and needed somewhere to go,
36:56
something to do. And then, of course, getting into like a
37:00
bigger conversation is the funding. We are not expensive in
37:05
the vast array of like what it could be, what it needs to be.
37:09
We can't be that because we don't have anyone. So we
37:13
operate. We really, truly do depend on donors and our
37:17
fundraisers that bring in money so that we can give grant money
37:20
to to families to so they can bring their kid. So some
37:24
individuals will come Monday through Friday. Some only two
37:27
days because that's all they can afford. Or you you know.
37:29
So it's like scholarship based in a way. Yeah.
37:32
Okay. See the that's the thing. That's a challenge about
37:35
especially around here. There's so many nonprofits. Yeah. The
37:38
competitive landscape is so wide, right, and deep to a
37:41
certain extent. A good buddy of mine, he runs and he has an
37:45
autistic child as well. A nonprofit called Stronger Than
37:48
My Father, and he basically tries to mentor homeless or not
37:54
homeless, fatherless boys, and you know be a strong male role
37:59
model in their life. He's a great guy, but you know, I
38:03
constantly help him. Pretty much every conversation is how do we
38:08
define? To me, like the the sale, if you will, of getting a
38:14
donor to contribute. I said, "You're selling. How does this
38:19
make me feel good that I feel like I'm making a difference,
38:23
and if you can articulate what their money does really well,
38:27
yeah,
38:28
then hey, yeah, you know, and it's simple and it's easy to
38:31
understand,
38:32
and that's why I wanted to get a hold of like I love take. I
38:35
that's I did that as a teacher, took pictures and showed parents
38:38
like this is what we do with with your child, this is what we
38:40
do. So, leaning on for autism, a picture says 1000 words. So, the
38:44
more pictures and things that we can show of what we do with
38:47
people, hopefully that'll gravitate. But I know when I was
38:50
the director of a residential school, they the families are
38:54
well off. Yeah, that's who came, and so that's that's the common
38:58
theme among these programs. There's their families that do
39:01
have money, that it's they can afford it, and then we have
39:06
other families that can ish, other families that have a hard
39:10
time, and so you just can't rely on private pay people all the
39:15
time, and and those aren't just the families that need services
39:18
or deserve services. Everyone does. I've got a friend. She's
39:21
got a high schooler with autism, and she she says, "Oh God, I
39:26
would never be able to afford that.
39:27
Yeah,
39:28
and that's tough because they they need they need the support
39:32
too.
39:32
What's the? I mean, what does it run?
39:35
And the $2,000 range a month.
39:37
Yeah,
39:38
and that's low.
39:39
Yeah,
39:40
for the enrichment, right? Like we we cook every day. Well,
39:44
where's that money come from? That was my question when I got
39:46
there. Was like, who pays for this? You know. So I we I do a
39:50
lot of flipping on Facebook. Something we don't use, I flip
39:52
it. I take that money. We we go. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. We
39:58
don't. We have a chair I don't want. I'm gonna sell it.
40:00
Right,
40:00
40 bucks. Let's go.
40:02
So people can. I mean, so that's a way to donate. I mean,
40:05
yes, and I should say too, the community is really helpful and
40:09
amazing. If me as a person, I will reach out on Facebook for
40:12
an item. So like we're doing this golf benefit. So I'm like
40:16
one golf club, and I want a putting green because I want the
40:18
guys to practice. And so I'll reach out and say, "Hey, I know
40:22
this is a hard, big ask, but like, would you be open to
40:25
donating? Most of the people are amazing. Some people are
40:28
hateful, but it's not hateful.
40:30
Really?
40:31
Like, yeah. Well, that's that's
40:33
par for the course these days,
40:34
right? Yeah. Yeah. So, but I get donations and it's amazing, and
40:37
I thank them, and I like show them I'm legit, and they're
40:39
like, "Ah, I trust you. I'm like you're awesome.
40:42
Yeah.
40:42
So it's again, it's I mean the community, right? Yeah. We it
40:46
takes a village. It takes a community.
40:48
So the funny thing is, is the you know you talk about the
40:50
hateful people. There's um you know the the center entrance
40:54
between the schools over here.
40:56
Yeah.
40:56
There's a lane that you get in the left that goes straight into
40:59
the high school, and the right lane that's supposed to take you
41:01
to the middle school. The people that get in the right lane and
41:04
go straight straight and cut over, those are the hateful
41:07
people.
41:07
Just like on June Lake.
41:08
Yeah, those those are the those are the miserable pricks out
41:13
there. Yeah,
41:13
I mean you got to inch get a little bit farther.
41:15
Yeah,
41:16
yeah.
41:16
Weirdest. I dropped my my wife and I dropped off our kids this
41:19
morning off at the high school, and she's my wife's go. Look at
41:25
these assholes, you know, just cutting the line and then coming
41:29
over. You drop your kid at the high school and you go through
41:31
the parking lot, and then you have to like come back out.
41:34
People don't let you out. Like we're all actually, you know
41:36
what? The same place, guys. Yeah, I mean, I found because my
41:40
wife, she says, she says, "I don't we go. You're missing the
41:42
the entrance. I said, "This is the longer entrance. I said, "If
41:45
we go into the front of the high school, actually takes a lot
41:47
less time. Yes, but fine, we'll do it your way. And that's what
41:50
we experienced this morning: a lot of aggravation, hard
41:53
heartache, and you know, frustration.
41:55
You got the kids driving over there. Oh
41:56
my gosh! That
41:57
they, you know, they just the
41:58
e-bikes,
41:59
the
42:00
e-biker gangs.
42:01
Yeah,
42:01
yeah, yeah. I I can't talk. I I ride an e bike, so it's great
42:06
for people like me at my age.
42:09
I mean,
42:10
18 miles, man, in one shot.
42:12
Shoot, get
42:12
your exercise. Heck yeah! I know you
42:14
live all the way up this hill,
42:16
dude. I I I ride it to work.
42:17
Oh my god! To have
42:18
parking out there, sit in this studio, all smelly and sweaty
42:21
and everything, and then I go home. I take an extra 12 miles
42:25
to get home.
42:26
Wow!
42:27
I'll take it all the way out to Autumn. Impressive. Okay, but
42:30
it's only because you know you got the assistance. But it's not
42:32
that much of. I keep on justifying it. You do get a
42:37
workout. I
42:39
would hope so. It's not just like people make fun of me
42:41
because they think I'm
42:42
cheating.
42:42
Now, yeah, ah, just getting a little prompt, getting a little
42:46
help. It's fine.
42:47
So, so with businesses that you're partnering with, Waldo's,
42:52
anybody else that you're partnering, you want to give a
42:54
little shout out?
42:55
Well, the Adventure Science Center, we go on Wednesday once
42:58
a month, or is it once a month, or twice a month, and you're
43:01
volunteering
43:02
out there too.
43:02
Yeah, we set up the kits for like the little kids that come
43:06
in for the activities on Wednesday. There is again, I'm
43:11
on the spot, being new. There's a church that we do work with.
43:15
We do office clerical things, so if they need mailers like sorted
43:19
and packaged, I'll give you a shout out on Instagram when I
43:21
post the link to the podcast. So those are the the three that we
43:26
have right now. I've reached out to to Lowe's and Home Depot, but
43:29
they're more corporate. Like I needed to find a place for my
43:33
couple of my students that like food, and I need something
43:36
that's away from food. So I'm like, hey, let's go to the
43:39
garden center. We can water,
43:40
right?
43:41
You know, so I'm like, ah, I think I need to probably reach
43:43
out to like a riverbend named Trump. My business
43:46
partner is very close with the place in Columbia. That's whose
43:50
name escapes me right now. I can't believe it. They're a
43:53
garden center.
43:54
Well, there's Beasley's, but that's rocks.
43:56
No, I mean this is
43:57
down, down by the hospital.
43:59
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what place I'm talking
44:01
about? I do. I was. I was like, man, is that too far to go?
44:04
Yeah. So I mean, I.
44:05
If we go to that venture science, adventure science.
44:07
Well,
44:08
you're right. You're right. So yeah. So finding places that are
44:11
open to that. Are
44:13
they donating as well financially?
44:15
No.
44:16
They're just. They're just offering themselves up. Yeah.
44:18
As a as a vocational opportunity.
44:20
Gotcha.
44:21
I'm telling you that manager Zach at let's shout out right to
44:24
Waldo's and Liberty. He's amazing. He's so welcoming to
44:27
our kids, adults, our guys. Yeah, and then they get they get
44:32
chicken for for for lunch payment. That's that's a score.
44:36
There you go.
44:37
Right.
44:38
I mean that's. I'm almost wondering. It's like you know,
44:40
and there's incentives for businesses to hire, you know,
44:44
people with the spectrum and stuff like that. Is that
44:46
something that?
44:47
Well, with me being so new to it, I don't know all the hoops
44:50
and regulations. I I would imagine there's some fine line
44:55
or what you have to think about when you hire in someone. I'm
44:58
even I think when I'm. At Waldo's, I'm like thinking about
45:01
like sanitation, like making sure their hands are washed. If
45:03
someone scratches their face, like we're not putting a liner,
45:06
like we try to, you know, where they use hand sanitizer and
45:08
things. So there's got to be regulations as to why you would
45:13
would or wouldn't hire someone, and then having that trust in a
45:17
person to say, well, there's no like aggressive behavior or no
45:20
wacky behaviors, and that's one thing with our program right
45:24
now. I say right now, yet because I'm used to aggressive
45:28
behaviors, but we can't support it where we are.
45:31
Right,
45:31
we just can't. And they're adults, and they're big, and
45:35
that hurts my heart because that's most of my students in
45:38
the past. Like most of them wouldn't be able to be in our
45:40
program.
45:40
Right, this is aggression.
45:43
but yeah. So I don't know. That's why I'm excited about
45:46
this program to learn more and grow it and get my hands on more
45:50
things to learn and push the envelope and be like, "Hey, how
45:52
about this? What if we trialed it? What if we, you know,
45:55
volunteered? Kind of thing. Even like Publix is a great
45:59
organization for employing people with disabilities, I
46:02
don't know if anyone previously has reached out to them in our
46:05
company to say like, "Hey, how could we do like a modified
46:08
version of this? Could we just push do the carts? No one wants
46:11
to be out. We've got one guy. He doesn't care if it's hot or not.
46:13
He loves work. He could go out there and get all those carts,
46:16
bring them in, put them in nice and neat order. Right? We've got
46:19
one guy. He he do the shelves, you know. How could we do like a
46:23
modified?
46:24
Yeah,
46:25
push push the envelope. That's what Tazikis
46:26
comes to mind.
46:28
So we have worked with Tuzikis in the past. I know that to what
46:32
full capacity. I don't know, but I know that is a name that is
46:35
often spoken about when we talk. So yeah, I'm just, and I'm also
46:40
on the other side of the vocational piece is the
46:42
experience piece. So, like, I emailed Feigning Goat. I want to
46:48
take them up to this like Mexican popsicle place over
46:51
here, over by Donatoro's. Like, I want them to have different
46:56
experiences going into a popsicle place, a Mexican,
47:00
especially Mexican popsicle place. They probably never ever.
47:02
What is this with all these different flavors? And it'd be
47:05
really cool going to the coffee shop and how to order. So we
47:10
talked. I talked with them an email about like a modified
47:13
menu, just so we could they could pick which ones that you
47:16
know they would order. What
47:17
about even like the local churches helping out on you know
47:20
service days and things yeah
47:22
yeah and then also like on days when it's really hot like our
47:26
guys like to move and so finding opportunity where we could go
47:29
into like an open space and walk so like the rec center we've
47:32
taken them to the factory to walk around so it's it's really
47:37
I just see this for me as an opportunity of if if we want it.
47:40
It's like field of dreams. If if you want it, like build it,
47:44
they'll come. Yeah, you know, ask. We can do it. The
47:47
possibilities are endless. It's amazing.
47:49
Identifying what it is that you need is a challenge. Yeah, you
47:53
know, and having a vision for where you want to go and what
47:56
the mile markers look like to get to that goal is, you know,
48:01
especially at this stage in the game of you being there, it's
48:03
tough to. You're still getting a lay of the land. Yeah. You know,
48:07
so it's almost like in a year from now we should have you
48:09
back. And oh, how's it going? Absolutely.
48:12
Where? How far we've come. Yeah. And I think for me, being like,
48:17
you know, new a novice is just the community connection, the
48:20
connections that I can continue to make. I made I've made
48:23
connections in every company I've worked in, and how can I
48:25
continue? You know,
48:27
here's a plan. I mean, everybody hears me talk about BNI on this
48:31
podcast, Business Networking International, okay, and
48:34
especially you with you, you know, you're you're you're
48:37
getting into the business space for for sure, and now it's like
48:41
you've kind of been on the on the outer fringes of it, you
48:44
know, in the public school sector. But now it's like, well,
48:46
now we got to make sure we're funded, make sure we're making
48:49
those relationships and engaging with the community more. This is
48:53
a good plan. At least start with ours. We meet every Wednesday in
48:59
Franklin at the Elks Lodge, it's the Williamson County chapter.
49:02
We've got about 65 members, and you'll be able to get up in
49:06
front of all of them and guests, and you have about 3030-ish
49:09
seconds to to talk about what I'm looking for. And in this
49:12
case, hey, I'm just looking to make relationships for people
49:15
who want to give some volunteering opportunities to my
49:18
guys to help them build out some life skills and make and enrich
49:23
their lives, and that's that's pretty much all you say. And
49:27
then you you show up early, you mingle and network with some of
49:30
the business owners in there. I mean, you got one of the higher
49:33
ups in there from Churchill Mortgage. You've got Melanie
49:36
Colbreth is with Mary Kay. A lot of people who've been there a
49:40
long time that are deeply rooted in the business community. Okay,
49:44
but then do the same thing. There's like 35 chapters of BNI.
49:50
Okay,
49:51
around you know Middle Tennessee. So I mean, you could
49:54
keep yourself busy.
49:55
Yeah, thank you. Make sure you got a you
49:56
know a little card that you hand out.
49:58
Yeah,
49:59
if there's an option. Opportunity that we could have
50:01
to bring our guys in and you know volunteer in your business
50:04
if you find something that you need to be done, let us know.
50:08
Yeah, hey, we could bring some guys and do a little podcast.
50:10
There you go.
50:11
We got honestly talkers.
50:13
Get some talkers that oh yeah, some talkers. Yeah,
50:16
yeah. He he'd be looking to see you know the light bulbs. It's
50:19
just when the light bulbs are out. Yeah, I mean, again, think
50:24
it. Let's
50:24
do
50:25
it. Yeah, I love that. Thank you for that opportunity. Of course,
50:27
definitely will take advantage. And yeah, because you know, I'm
50:31
the I'm the teacher brain. I'm having to shift that now, so
50:34
I've got a lot to grow in that area. So I would take on some
50:38
insight and tips and tricks for sure. Is
50:41
it a bigger challenge to prepare autistic adults for the
50:46
workplace, or the opposite, preparing the workplace for
50:49
autistic adults? That's
50:50
a great question. Wow, let's talk in a year too soon. That's
50:58
a great. I just don't even know if I can put a number on it. I
51:01
think it's equal. That's amazing. You know, I mean,
51:06
autism is just is autism. It's going to be the same, right? So
51:09
it's teaching other people how to adapt is probably more of,
51:12
and that's really what we want for the community is to adapt
51:15
more.
51:16
What do you? Yeah, I mean, what is it like when people who
51:20
aren't used to coming and and being around autistic people. It
51:24
can be very, you know, off-putting. Yeah, it could be
51:27
intrusive. It could be awkward, uncomfortable. Is that typical
51:33
of human nature?
51:34
Yeah,
51:35
yeah,
51:35
yeah. I
51:35
mean, it was my first experience ever. That's why I bring my
51:39
children around it. My my 16-year-old son, he worked the
51:42
whole month of July with them, and at first he's like, "I
51:46
don't. When they were little, they he didn't know any
51:49
different, and so it is awkward. I said, "You could, Bennett, you
51:52
can ask me any questions. I mean, he was pretty real about
51:55
some stuff, and I'd be like, "Dude, you can't think like
51:58
that. You have to, you know. But they're they're human. Just
52:01
connect with them on a human level. I mean, even me. I mean,
52:05
I just think autism. Some parents probably would be off
52:08
put on the. I just think it's awesome. Like some parents are
52:10
be like, it's not, and I get that. But I love working with
52:15
it. But they're they're just they're they're people and
52:17
they're fun, and I love. And that's the thing I'm really good
52:21
at is connecting with them, and then I connect with their
52:23
parents. But connecting with them on a deeper level, like let
52:27
me tell you a short story. One of my, they're all my favorite,
52:30
right? But this one particular individual, the first day I was
52:33
like, ooh, he was a little like, ooh, what could he do if he got
52:37
angry? And I'd ask questions like, hey, does he get on the
52:40
golf cart? And they're like, No, no, he's never got on the golf
52:42
cart. I'm like, Oh, he's gonna get on the golf cart. We're
52:44
gonna do
52:45
it. Got
52:45
him on the golf cart. It's the best time of his life. He's
52:48
there, like yelling. He's nonverbal and he's hollering and
52:51
loving life. But go on. You want to get mad? Okay. What do you
52:58
want? So I just approached him as a human, like, no, let's do
53:01
it. We're gonna do it. And I approached him how he wanted. He
53:03
did not like it with other people. He likes to be solo solo
53:05
rider. He gets on the golf cart every day after lunch.
53:09
What does he? I mean, is it a problem? Because a friend of
53:12
mine who I was in radio with, her kids are autistic, and their
53:16
old their son is like they've had a whole like he used to get
53:21
frustrated because he couldn't communicate, couldn't express
53:23
himself. So they finally found a way for him to do that, and the
53:27
brilliance that's coming out of this kid, and they're both
53:30
adults. It's it's amazing, and he just needed to find. Okay,
53:35
let's find the one thing that you need to communicate.
53:37
Yes,
53:38
and that's what it made him less frustrated, and he was able to
53:42
talk.
53:42
Absolutely,
53:43
is that a large, like a common thing?
53:45
Absolutely,
53:46
really.
53:47
Even when I came in day one, I'm like, "How does he communicate?
53:51
How does she communicate? So
53:52
really, oh wow, okay, is that where a lot of the frustration
53:55
and anxiety kind of is? I mean, think about it.
53:58
Like, have you ever been to another country and you don't
53:59
speak their language? You
54:00
can't. You can't. It's
54:02
like the longest I was in Mexico was two weeks, and by end of the
54:05
first week, I was like, couldn't handle it. Had like was like it
54:10
was a lot. People don't know who I am really as a person because
54:12
I can't talk to you. I can't get my emotions out. I can't get
54:15
what my needs out if I'm not speaking your language, and
54:18
that's exactly like what it is for them. So we figure it out.
54:21
We got one individual. He loves tools all the time. So he, I
54:26
come in with all my bags, and he's like looking around. I'm
54:28
like, "Are you trying to see if I got a tool in here? Do I bring
54:31
something new today? What are we doing? And he he can't talk. I'm
54:35
like, "Use your device. Tell me what you want. Like drill, drill
54:38
blower. He likes the the leaf blower. I bring it from home
54:42
because we don't have one. So I, that's plug. Battery operated
54:46
leaf blower, and he loves it. And he's always looking in my
54:48
bag to see if I have the battery because I take it home and
54:51
charge it. Oh,
54:52
another business that you might be able to want to connect with
54:54
is Macklemore Auctions. They come across that stuff all the
54:57
time. Tools and garden equipment. I'm gonna
55:00
have to watch this episode back and take yes because I'm like
55:04
we'll
55:05
off we'll pack we'll
55:07
unpack all this. I can't think today. I've been coughing all
55:10
weekend. I'm looking at the camera, addressing the audience.
55:13
See, and imagine if you had a cold and you couldn't talk, you
55:16
couldn't tell someone.
55:18
I I did have like the really baritone Barry White going last
55:22
week. Rosie, nice. I know you did. It was awesome. I need to
55:27
do more voiceover now.
55:28
Yeah.
55:29
What What kind of talents do you typically see in the in your
55:32
guys that employers typically overlook?
55:36
Oh, or is that too new? No, it's not too new. It's just well, I
55:40
guess it in the sense it's new for me in the employment area.
55:43
Yeah. Um, I mean, they probably would overlook like the
55:48
preciseness, like even organization. Yeah, just even
55:52
this guy yesterday. We dry the dry the baskets. They put the
55:57
liner in. I mean, his precision, and then I have another
56:02
individual who did it too. Their stacks look totally different,
56:05
and I was laughing. I was like, "You can tell this one's a
56:07
little more affected by autism than the other because look at
56:11
the precision. Like,
56:12
what if you go up to the guy who's really precise and you
56:14
just kind of take it and move it?
56:16
He'd probably make some noise or drives him nuts. He'd probably
56:19
like, but I used to do that to students. I did because you have
56:24
to learn how to be flexible.
56:26
Yeah,
56:27
that's that's why I think it's fun. Yeah, you gotta have fun
56:31
with what you do.
56:33
Well, yeah, a lot of parents typically find out at what age.
56:37
Oh wow,
56:38
that their kids are on young, young,
56:40
18 months.
56:41
What do they need to know? Like you know, going into it, of
56:44
course, they're probably going to get a diagnosis from a
56:46
physician or something like that. Maybe they're handed a
56:49
pamphlet. You know, here's what to do next. Somebody's listening
56:53
to this. Well, I'm you know at the beginning stages of this
56:55
life changing situation. What do I what what what am I getting
57:02
into?
57:03
I mean, it probably sounds cheesy, but like you're not
57:05
alone. There's so many people out there that are going through
57:08
the same thing. You just have to ask. Get on Facebook. Get a part
57:13
of like any group. Just ask questions. Just start asking
57:16
because it's not like a shied away thing anymore. It's it's
57:20
it's out there. Many people know about it, so to not be so
57:23
nervous about it. But I also feel like for some parents, it's
57:26
got to be crushing initially because you don't know like the
57:30
the trajectory of what's happening or how severely
57:33
impacted they are. And so I imagine any parent who finds a
57:38
diagnosis at any point in their child's age that they have a
57:40
disability is is really tough, but their autism can be very
57:45
hard, but it can be really awesome,
57:48
right?
57:49
But you have a good mindset about it, yeah, yeah. Your your
57:51
lives are are forever changed in good and in difficult ways. What
57:57
about athletics,
57:59
sports organizations?
58:02
Is oh, that we work with
58:03
anything that you work with, but I mean, are a lot of autistic
58:06
kids are they you know does that help with playing a sport?
58:11
Um, they don't leisure well. Okay, so and like effort, we
58:17
don't we don't like to put effort into things. So that's
58:18
like half the world. Um, I mean, we we have partnerships with the
58:22
Preds and the Titans, and just recently with the Sounds. So
58:28
with like fundraising opportunities and grant funding,
58:30
so that's really awesome. Working actually, we're gonna
58:34
take a group to volunteer at a Titans game end of August
58:39
preseason
58:39
preseason
58:40
yeah
58:41
a Bears game. I really prefer. I tried to go to the Steeler game.
58:47
Of course, we'll volunteer at the Steeler game. It's
58:49
absolutely fine.
58:50
You don't want to go to the Bears game?
58:51
No.
58:52
Well,
58:52
I mean,
58:53
you lost your coach, man. I mean, you know. No,
58:55
no, no. But listen, are we going there?
58:58
Where's he now?
58:59
McCarthy. We Mike McCarthy.
59:02
That's right. He came from the Cowboys. So, but but the the the
59:05
guy previous Tomlin
59:06
Tomlin, I think is going into like
59:08
Ravens. No,
59:10
stop it.
59:11
Wasn't he going? I can't remember. I honestly can't
59:13
remember.
59:13
I just got goosebumps. That is a team. I just got goosebumps.
59:17
Why'd you get goosebumps?
59:18
Because the Ravens? No, no, no, no. Though
59:20
Tomlin's been there for like 20 years,
59:22
forever. Yeah, yeah.
59:24
Because there was only that was the thing is that like there's
59:26
only been three head coaches for the Steelers, and then all of a
59:30
sudden it's like they they booted the guy.
59:32
Well, I mean, what the crap? We needed we needed we needed new
59:35
blood. We needed to move on. Really,
59:37
he was he was a good coach. How many
59:39
Super Bowls did he get us? He's never had a losing season, okay,
59:43
but the season always ended. He got you a Super
59:45
Bowl, I want to say, in like 22,009, right?
59:48
Not enough, and not. Oh my gosh! Not
59:54
enough. How many teams go like the entire time without getting?
59:57
I used to
59:58
listen. I know there's a lot. Like the Ravens, you were
1:00:03
getting worked up. There's going to be lots of coughing. No, no.
1:00:05
I mean, I don't like being toe and toe with the Patriots. I
1:00:09
don't like that. Anyway, Patriots are a
1:00:14
very hated team because of Brady. Yeah,
1:00:17
we're done with him.
1:00:17
And now you know it's funny because you had what's his name?
1:00:22
Our old coach for the Titans. No, he's at the Patriots. Not
1:00:26
Fisher. Mike.
1:00:27
Oh, I don't know. I don't know Titans trivia. Well, no, I'm
1:00:32
trying to think
1:00:32
what those name was. I can't. Tanner
1:00:34
Hill. No, that's not right. No,
1:00:35
no, he was the quarterback.
1:00:36
Yeah.
1:00:36
Anyway, the guy who was our coach for the Titans, who got us
1:00:39
into the playoffs and close to a Super Bowl that the idiots that
1:00:44
own that team freaking booted him a year later, and then
1:00:46
Tayton the the Patriots picked him up and they brought him to
1:00:50
the freaking game, and it's like man, we were it's like I've
1:00:54
never been a big Pats fan,
1:00:56
yeah, but
1:00:56
I was actually rooting for them, you know, because it's like the
1:00:59
Seahawks again. Okay, like what's the most unsexy team is
1:01:04
the Seahawks, you know?
1:01:06
Listen, the the Steelers have so much history.
1:01:10
Yeah,
1:01:10
history and sort
1:01:12
of the Giants. I mean, you're such a homer. I
1:01:16
am. I can't. I bleed black and gold live or die. It's a it's a
1:01:19
thing, but and I usually like in the school system. I'll meet.
1:01:22
That's how I connect with kids. I'll be like, "Who's your team?
1:01:24
Oh, now you really need to meet the guy from Stronger Than My
1:01:27
Father, Marcus Minis.
1:01:28
Yeah,
1:01:29
he's a Steelers.
1:01:30
Okay, let's go. We can do that.
1:01:32
Yeah,
1:01:32
I love that.
1:01:33
We had Chris Hope in here at one point.
1:01:34
Okay,
1:01:35
remember Chris Hope?
1:01:36
Yes.
1:01:36
Yeah.
1:01:37
Listen, line them up. Let's go. We'll banter, and it'll be
1:01:42
great. I get fired up just about autism, as I do with the
1:01:45
Steelers. Steeler,
1:01:46
but could you talk football in general?
1:01:48
Yeah,
1:01:49
yeah,
1:01:49
yeah. I mean, I don't know. Are you gonna put me on the spot?
1:01:52
Well, I mean, it's one of those things I've been thinking about
1:01:54
with my business partner is maybe starting a football
1:01:56
podcast, but getting a female
1:01:59
oh
1:02:00
no counter. Yeah, I couldn't. I'm not that good.
1:02:03
I don't. I'm not that good. I'm
1:02:04
not that good. I can't
1:02:05
remember the guy's name.
1:02:07
Yeah, I mean that happens. We have too much in our heads.
1:02:10
Yeah,
1:02:10
and we're getting old.
1:02:12
Vrabel, Mike Vrabel. Vrabel. There you go.
1:02:15
Yeah, not an
1:02:17
easy name to remember.
1:02:18
No, but I'm look. I'm ready for new. I'm good. Our rookie
1:02:22
quarterback looks good.
1:02:24
You know,
1:02:25
it's weird having.
1:02:26
I think Titans will have a good year.
1:02:28
I mean, I want them to have a good year. I don't mind. I like
1:02:30
going to the games. I wear my Steeler shirt underneath. I
1:02:33
always have like Steeler representation if I go to
1:02:37
double. Even
1:02:37
if they're not playing.
1:02:38
Yeah, absolutely. My signs. What's the next game they
1:02:41
play? The the Seahawks are coming out here. Is that the
1:02:44
preseason?
1:02:45
Yeah,
1:02:46
I mean we're out. That's this
1:02:46
weekend. I want to say.
1:02:48
Listen, I could do another shoutout for anyone who gives me
1:02:50
tickets to Steeler game. I could talk. I'll I'll do. I don't
1:02:54
know. Can we we offer a free week, free month, free Steeler
1:02:57
ticket? I'm so excited we're in town. Okay, we're getting off
1:03:02
track, but yes. So we're gonna volunteer for the Titans. We're
1:03:07
gonna stuff the cups with little flyers for their fundraiser. So
1:03:12
I like that partnership, like partnering with other community
1:03:14
people. Like I help you, you help me. You talk about me, I
1:03:17
talk about you. Right. Yeah. No one needs to talk about like the
1:03:20
big dogs all the time, but yeah. So
1:03:23
you need to let's make sure you're signed up for BNI. If not
1:03:27
tomorrow next
1:03:28
week, yeah, absolutely. So I don't think I got anything in
1:03:31
the morning except seven
1:03:33
1509.
1:03:35
Okay, I mean that's just doable. Yeah. All right. So you know
1:03:40
you got to get up early. That's all.
1:03:41
Hey, that's
1:03:42
I'm. I'm usually there about quarter to seven because I'm
1:03:44
part of the AV club.
1:03:45
Okay.
1:03:46
Go figure. We run all the music and sound effects.
1:03:50
That's awesome. Yeah. I bet you have a lot of them. Quite one of
1:03:53
these. Wow! Wow! Wow! Like the little buzzer noises.
1:03:56
How do people find and follow you and support you what you're
1:03:59
doing?
1:03:59
I mean, you can Google today on your phone: autism career
1:04:04
training, autism Franklin adults, and that's that's going
1:04:08
to pull up. Yeah, autismcareertraining.org.org.
1:04:11
Yep.
1:04:12
There you go. I
1:04:12
imagine when we do shift our name, we'll still have that
1:04:15
connected. That's you know, so that doesn't get all you know
1:04:20
lose what kind of like
1:04:21
the Autism Foundation of Tennessee was called before?
1:04:24
Yeah,
1:04:25
what what was wrong with that?
1:04:26
Well,
1:04:28
it it
1:04:28
just shifted. It was it needed. I mean, Karen would have a
1:04:32
stronger story behind that, but at one point when I was first
1:04:37
working with them, they went to Autism ETC Education and
1:04:41
Training Center or Education and Therapy Center. I'm sorry. So
1:04:46
they just needed a name that identified what they did because
1:04:49
it wasn't really just a foundation, you know. So it's we
1:04:53
had programs running. So what the power is in your name? Like
1:04:57
what do you
1:04:58
do? Right.
1:04:59
So. Yeah.
1:05:00
Well, there you go.
1:05:01
Yeah. So, as always,
1:05:02
guys, the information will be in the description. We'll make sure
1:05:05
to put all there if you feel so inclined to first and foremost
1:05:09
support ACT
1:05:12
ACT
1:05:13
Autism Community Training.
1:05:15
Yeah.
1:05:17
Please do. And if this is has impacted you and you want to
1:05:20
share it with somebody, please do give it us a four five star
1:05:23
rating. That would be wonderful. Go to mmtbp.com. That is a
1:05:28
truncated version of the mostly Middle Tennessee Business
1:05:30
podcast.com, which you can go to as well. But it takes you three
1:05:33
times as long to type. But yeah, mmtbp.com. Meredith
1:05:39
Pettigrew
1:05:40
Pettigrew. They
1:05:40
give you four stars and give me five.
1:05:42
Five star. I always, I always try to make sure that hey, if
1:05:45
you give me a three star, hold off. Let me know how we can make
1:05:49
it a four star.
1:05:50
Let's try again.
1:05:51
Right, four stars is you know I'm good with that because
1:05:54
that's that's real.
1:05:56
Yeah.
1:05:56
Hey, I you know some room to grow. Some people just can't
1:05:59
give you something perfect. I you know, nothing's perfect.
1:06:01
I'll give you a four and a half next year.
1:06:03
I'll be a five.
1:06:04
There you go. There you go. Share, subscribe, all that fun
1:06:08
stuff. Make sure you find and follow Meredith and her
1:06:12
organization. All the details are once again in the
1:06:14
description. Meredith, what a fun time!
1:06:16
Thank you.
1:06:17
Thanks for coming out.
1:06:18
Awesome. Thank you.