Video #33 – Positive Careers for the Intellectually Disabled

In this video (#33 in my series ”The Power of Neurodiversity’’), I focus on the issue of employment for people with intellectual disabilities. Only 19% of those with intellectual disabilities work, compared with 61% for neurotypicals. This isn’t right. Many of those who do work, end up in sheltered workshops doing menial tasks like assembling cardboard boxes. Businesses use 14(c) certificates given to them by the Labor Department exempting them from paying the federal minimum wage to its employees, so some employers are paying less than a dollar an hour. This is an outrage to the person with intellectual disabilities. The rest of this video is spent highlighting career areas where people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities can succeed including green industries, the building sector, customer service, the food industry, the arts, entrepreneurship, advocacy, and the postal services. #intellectualdisabilities #Downsyndrome #neurodiversity #neurodivergent