“For the first time somebody asked what I wanted to do with my day, not what I couldn’t do.”
James was 22 when his school-based services ended and, as his mother put it, “the calendar went blank.” A Helpline call connected the family to an adult day programme and a job coach; two years on he works three mornings a week at a garden centre in Monmouth County and takes the bus there himself.
James tells his own story in the video above — including the parts that did not go smoothly.
Diagnosis
“I called on a Tuesday afternoon and by Thursday I had three names, and one of them had an opening.”
Family Wellness
“The wellness coaching wasn’t about Liam at all. It was about us being able to keep going.”
Transition
“I learned to cook four meals. Now it’s eleven.”
Community
“Quiet warm-ups, a visual schedule on the fence, and nobody gets left on the bench. That’s the whole secret.”
Diagnosis
“We thought we were the only ones. Then we walked into the conference and there were two thousand of us.”