The range of disability—and ability—of those with autism is huge. But finding work, love, and independence can be especially challenging for those on the spectrum (Subscriber Exclusive)
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Autism is a complex neurological condition that includes impairments in social interaction, language, and communication skills, combined with rigid, repetitive behaviors. The range of disability is huge, which is why it’s called a “spectrum” disorder, and the number of those affected is growing. In 2018 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionthat found the prevalence was one in 59 eight-year-olds, a 15 percent increase over two years. Why? That’s a subject of heated debate.
I think a great deal about what it will take to make my son independent. Some days, it’s all I think about. I’m not alone. If there are more than an estimated four million autistic people in the U.S., there are surely a great deal more than four million neurotypical people who love them. Tom D’Eri is the co-owner; his autistic brother, Andrew, works there and was the inspiration. In 2011 D’Eri and his father, John, started researching a business that could be profitable and hire young adults like Andrew, who’s 27. Rising Tide opened in 2013. A second opened four years later.Luke Zenda, 19, is a great worker, with no filter. This is not just an educated guess. “I’m really good at this, and I have no filter,” he says cheerfully, by way of greeting.
Asked what they like best about working at the car wash, Anthony answers unhesitatingly: “The camaraderie. So, like seeing the same faces,” he says, “and also having someone to talk to while you’re working. So, days when it gets boring. Right, Jeff?”That lack of inhibition had worried D’Eri. But, he says, “we have way more behavioral issues with our typical employees.”
Earlier that day I’d visited Brandon in the small, airy apartment he shares with his mother, Cynthia Drucker. Brandon is a burly, handsome boy with a cowlick and a broad smile. When he was younger, he was impulsive, and while he never hurt anyone, he would slam things when he was angry. Drucker keeps a bound copy of Brandon’s school reports from kindergarten on; sometimes she’ll flip through them, to remember how far he’s come.
This talk makes her father deeply uncomfortable. What a struggle it is to raise an autistic child, he says, and what a toll it takes on a marriage. I’m hardly a Pollyanna, but I see in Leah and Brandon what I desperately want for my own son. I try to get Nesenman to focus on what he has: A daughter who loves to create, holds a job, may need supervision, and maybe isn’t up to caring for children, but seems to have a pretty good shot at having a relationship and living independently.
That’s why Frank is spending his afternoons at the pizzeria. With a bit of finessing, Frank has been taught to make dough and form it into small rounds, which are then frozen. If you are forming pizzas, repetitive clutching is a feature, not a bug. Nieto, who’s familiar with Scott’s work at the diner, notes that he wraps napkins around silverware better and faster than anyone he’s ever seen—and furthermore, he really, really likes doing it. “C’mon, hiring autistic people?” he says. “This is a no-brainer.”
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