any IDEAS FOR HIM?
DEVVA
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>Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 17:15:30 -0800
>From: "Roger N. Meyer" <[log in to unmask]>
>Organization: PDXAspergerproj.org
>X-Accept-Language: en
>To: "Devva Kasnitz, PH.D." <[log in to unmask]>
>CC: Roger Meyer <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Request for Information your Program
>
>Dr. Kasnitz:
>
>I am a 56 YO Adult diagnosed summer of 1997 with Asperger Syndrome. Ten
>months I hung up my shop apron after having been a journeyman cabinet
>maker for 26 years. Until 1989 I lived and worked in San Francisco, and
>I came up to Portland, Oregon, to study for the MSW at Portland State
>University's Graduate School of Social Work.
>
>When I came to Portland, I expected to find sufficient flexibility in
>the MSW program to follow two of my interests: affordable housing and
>blue-collar craft inclusion of minority and at risk young adults. From
>my previous work as an apprentice instructor in my San Francisco local
>union, and over ten years' time with Community Boards of San Francisco,
>I had hoped to parlay mediation and training skills into the skilled
>construction craft scene in Portland. What the MSW program offered at
>the time was very disappointing.
>
>PSU did not work out, and I returned to work in the trade for the next
>seven years. Following my diagnosis in 1997, I conceived of a research
>project to address the adult needs of persons with the disability. This
>was done in response to my shock at having discovered NO substantial
>work around adult issues being done with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or High
>Functioning Autistic persons anywhere.
>
>The project involved conducting intensive life-history interview with
>medically diagnosed adults over the age of 25. The purpose of the study
>was to determine what relationships individuals with AS perceive between
>their disability and their past and present work experiences. Interviews
>were to consist of two hour, three session interviews. Transcripts from
>the tape recorded sessions would be analyzed using well-accepted
>subjective analytical protocols. Complementing the in-person interviews
>was an extensive on-line survey where individuals both medically
>diagnosed and self-diagnosed (but peer confirmed) AS adults were to be
>asked the same kinds of questions covered in the face-to-face
>interviews. I completed a thorough on-line questionnaire, and then the
>project collapsed, mainly due to the lack of time of the three
>professional co-principals for the project, and a singular dependence on
>a funding source which provided only elusive dates for grant approval
>and unknown monies for the project, originally proposed as an
>exploratory study on a shoestring budget.
>
>>From the project, I was able to salvage the questionnaire, which now is
>written in a workbook format It has been accepted by Jessica Kingsley
>Publishing, Inc. in England, the publishing house that has become the
>principal UK source on autism and autism-related issues. Dr. Anthony
>Attwood, whose current book "Asperger Syndrome-A Guide for Parents and
>Teachers" remains the leading readable book on the subject, has agreed
>to write the preface.
>
>I've also co-written an article with Mike Ward entitled
>"Self-Determination for People with Developmental Disabilities and
>Autism" due for publication in Vol 14, No 1 of The Journal of Autism
>and Developmental Disorders, Spring, 1999. I've submitted a number of
>articles to Internet publication sources, and have had a number
>published to email subscription lists specializing in Asperger Syndrome.
>
>Since having quit the trade, I've become job trainer for the Oregon
>Commission for the Blind, a parent/student advocate for special
>education (private case development as well as IEP meeting advocate), a
>professional mediator, transition consultant to high schools for diabled
>students with developmental disabilities, and an in-service presenter on
>high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome to medical departments at
>the Portland VA Hospital (audiology and mental health), the one-stop
>Department of Labor employment resources center in Portland, and the
>disabled student services offices at Portland State University,
>Marylhurst University, Portland Community College, and have scheduled
>similar presentations for the SW Washington ILR center, Clark County
>Community College o(Washington state), Clackamas and Mt. Hood Community
>Colleges in the Portland region, and the counseling program at Lewis and
>Clark University. I also founded an Asperger Syndrome support group in
>Portland which is self-governing and independent from "helpers" at the
>Portland Independent Living Resource center. Recently, leadership has
>been shared, and the group shows very encouraging signs of being able to
>sustain itself without the presence of the original moderator (myself).
>
>As I indicated above, the research project originally set for
>sponsorship by Portland State University School of Education, Department
>of Special Education and Counselor Education, has collapsed. I recently
>inquired of the Self-Determination Center of the Oregon Health Sciences
>University whether there would be staff interest in pursuing research
>for the project, but all staffers have too much on their plates already
>to consider adding yet another project.
>
>Do you know of anyone at the University of California, or your
>organization, specifically, who would be interested in finding out more
>about this project currently without a sponsor or a home? To my
>understanding, there still is no scientifically valid work which has
>begun to formally tieknown AS challenges to particular workplace
>settings and tasks. In addition to publishing the findings in
>peer-reviewed literature in special education, vocational
>rehabilitation, and personal and employment counseling, I expect the
>project to produce readable and practical handbooks and guides for use
>in to transition planning, employment counseling for adults, and
>effective vocational rehabilitation services for individuals on the high
>functioning end of the autistic spectrum.
>
>I look forward to hearing from you.
>
>Roger Meyer
>Co-Coordinator, Oregon Parents United http://inetarena.com/~rnm
>Executive Director
>Portland Asperger Syndrome Adult
> Employment Research Project
>607 SE 76th Avenue
>Portland, OR 97215-2238
>503-251-0012
>
>Email : [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
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Devva Kasnitz, PhD
Research Director,
Research and Training Center
on Independent Living and Disability Policy
World Institute on Disability
510 16 Street, Suite #100
Oakland, CA 94612-1500
Voice: 510-251-4348
TTY: 510-208-9493
FAX: 510-208-9494
email: [log in to unmask]
Home:
2345 7th St
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-549-1865
[log in to unmask]
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