Rant #1,534: My Boy

I am happy to say that as of this writing, my son is doing pretty well, thank you.

Through months of perseverance and hard work, he has now been working for a couple of months, he enjoys his job, and they enjoy having him there.

My son has a learning disability and has ADD, which does not add up to what many employers are seeking when it comes to new hires.

During the past two years, going through the Medicaid/Supplemental Security Income nightmare and other programs with him, it really took its toll on him and my family.

During the roughly one year that he was out of school and concurrently out of work, he would often ask me when he would find a job, and for one of the few times in my life, I had no answer for him.

He would go on interviews, and even though companies said they were hiring the handicapped, don't be fooled--they might have been hiring certain handicapped people, but they weren't hiring those with the disabilities that my son had.

We went on interview after interview after interview, and I think that right off the bat, potential employers could see that my son was at a disadvantage, and heck, he couldn't even get hired at the local Goodwill store, a business that deals directly with those who are handicapped.

We went to job fairs, and the same thing happened. The government mandates that companies hire the handicapped, but it does not tell these companies which ones to hire. So he was running up against those whose only handicap was that they were in wheelchairs; that is not to knock those in wheelchairs, but how could my son compete with these people?

What I am saying is that when it came to having a mental handicap, people like my son were discarded pretty early in the interview process.

Anyway, at one job fair was an entity that seemed to have been created specifically for him. It is Ken's Krew, an independent organization that places those with disabilities in local businesses like Home Depot and CVS.

After months of a painstaking process, he finally got into Ken's Krew, and was placed at a Home Depot right by us.

It was the greatest gift anyone could have given him.

It has brought back his self worth, and yes, my son is a good worker. He went from two days a week, four hours at a time, to four days a week, four hours at a time, and there is promise of more in the spring.

Out ultimate goal for him is to work 40 hours a week full time, and maybe he will get there one day, but we are going to start off small now, and work our way up.

He enjoys what he is doing, and I can see that he looks forward to work each day that he is slated to be on the job.

One day, I just happened to be in that Home Depot. It was late summer, and I was looking for charcoal for out final barbecue of the year.

I could not find it, and was walking around aimlessly, but I finally found it.

I also found my son walking up an aisle doing his job. I told him about looking for the charcoal, and he said to me, "Why didn't you ask me where it was?"

That might have been the most gratifying remark I have every gotten from him. I was so proud of him!

My wife and I are proud of the giant leaps he has made since getting this job, and we hope that more giant leaps are in the offing, and we believe that they are.

He is a good person, and just needed a break.

And when he finally got one, he ran with it, and there is no telling where he might take this.

Good luck to our son, and keep it going!