'Agricultural specialisterne': rural employment revolution for those with Autism

[Visionary7903]

In an earlier post I mentioned how the visit of the founder of Specialisterne (Thorkil Sonne) to Iceland in January 2009 had originally sparked the idea of launching a similar company there. He had visited Iceland at the invitation of the small island nation’s Autism Association and the initiative of Margret Dagmar Ericsdottir, the producer of the documentary A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism (aka The Sunshine Boy), which mentions Specialisterne.

Not in a dissimilar fashion, AMC Entertainment Inc’s initial foray into Autism may well have provided the groundwork and been the catalyst for something else, completely unrelated to AMC’s Sensory Friendly Films Program. Namely, the company again formally partnered with the Autism Society to create a Disability-related employment project - FOCUS (Furthering Opportunities Cultivating Untapped Strengths)…

…The FOCUS project began during an acceptance speech by AMC CEO Gerry Lopez at the Autism Society’s national conference in July, 2009. Lopez was accepting the Champions Award from the Autism Society for AMC’s Sensory Friendly Films program. This program provides specially designated showings of first-run movies at AMC Theatres, during which sensory differences are respected by leaving the theater lights turned up, turning down the sound, and allowing noise and activity among children in the audience. In 2008, more than 25,000 children and adults attended the special showings.
In his acceptance speech Lopez announced the formation of a “workforce development project” in collaboration with the Autism Society…

By early 2011, AMC rolled FOCUS out in pretty much all of its 357 theatres and the project has helped more than double the number of people with disabilities that the Kansas City, Missouri-based company employs.

Unlike many disability/Autism employment initiatives, which involve very little public interaction with employees, these positions are all in a public-facing environment. One accomodation made as part of the program is bolded in the quote below:

…Kyle …who is on the autism spectrum, is a film crew associate at an AMC Entertainment movie theater in Leawood, Kan. An inexpensive and easy accommodation involved simplifying workers’ schedules and printing them in large type…

And more on Kyle and the way that employment has given him confidence …

…Kyle … 21, looks forward to going to work each day. In fact, he typically arrives a half-hour early at the AMC movie theater in Leawood, Kan., where he works as a film crew associate, greeting customers and sweeping floors.
Last year, [Kyle] was the only associate at that movie theater who received a perfect score on his individual evaluation…
Diagnosed with autism when he was 3, [Kyle] was one of the first individuals hired through AMC’s year-old FOCUS program…
“I good usher. I work hard, and I so reliable. Supervisors like me–call me MVP,” [Kyle] told his parents.
…[Kyle] now has plans for the future: “I adult now and so independent. I get apartment someday.”

(sources: http://dps.missouri.edu/Autism/2012AWNC/AMC_FOCUS.pdf; http://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2012/0512/documents/hr_slideshow0512.ppsx; http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/2012/0612/Pages/0612meinert.aspx)