Thinking of job options for my grown-up child with special needs

The goal does not always have to be employment. What is more important is participating in the world

- Jill Lim

Fall down seven times, get up eight. That saying popped into my mind when I recently read the 2021 book Hard Landings: Looking Into The Future For A Child With Autism by American author Cammie McGovern.

In it, she recounts the challenges she and her husband faced in trying to create a future for their son with autism, Ethan, as he approached the end of his school years.

The anxiety they felt; the chipping away at their initial high hopes for school, for a full recovery, for a future; the enthusiastic determination to find him work giving way to something much less optimistic; and her surprise at the limited job options for the disabled – all these will be familiar to many parents in the same boat.

You dare to hope when your child seems to be doing well in school – mastering numbers, doing worksheets, completing tasks independently in class – and you panic at the thought of, as she says, your child "bagging groceries for the rest of their life".

But, as she adds: "The more you look at the choices, the more you realise, bagging groceries doesn't seem remotely depressing. In fact, it seems ideal."

But then, after graduation, another hard truth kicks in. In her book, she cites the statistic that for every disabled bagger, 150 are sitting at home, waiting for that job.

It is not clear what a comparable figure in Singapore might be, but the average resident employment rate in the country of people with disabilities aged 15 to 64 was 32.7 per cent in 2022/2023.

Her conclusion: Think creatively. Look in other places.

And she did. She fought for Ethan to have a chance at clearing tables at a cafeteria as a volunteer. He got a job placement in a grocery store.