The flip side of “where is my child going to live?” is “where will he work?”

Cary Griffin of Griffin-Hammis Associates dared us to get outside the box in thinking about this. Of course, focusing on developmental disabilities and those with severe mental disabilities, the traditional places of employment are sheltered workshops and specific jobs in the community, like janitorial work or bagging groceries. Those jobs have two basic problems. The first is that they are usually below poverty wages. The second is that they’re still not suited for everyone.

Cary showed us that just like with people without disabilities, our children need to find a job that fits their skills and interests. And that those opportunities, just like for people without disabilities, are not always found in traditional places or large corporations. What he had to say appealed to my background in business and my knowledge of how our country runs mostly on small businesses anyway.

He encouraged us to think about small business opportunities for those with disabilities as well. It’s easy to see why. First off, small businesses can be more flexible in accommodating a person’s special needs. And in a small business, the chances are pretty good that you can deal directly with the owner on hiring decisions, and that there aren’t policies and rules in place that would have to be changed to allow a person with disabilities to be hired.

But, then, Cary took us further outside the box. He suggested that it’s a highly viable option for our children to own their own businesses, just like many other Americans do in their lifetimes. Wow! LuLu with her own business!

The Griffin-Hammis website has some awesome examples of businesses owned by people with developmental disabilities. They will all warm your heart and give you much to think about. My favorite is the extremely creative business called Habitat Productions, owned by two brothers with muscular dystrophy who create video scrapbooks and other media productions for all sorts of occasions. Check them out here. (They have a wicked sense of humor!)


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