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Larry Clay: My name is Lawrence Clay Jr. I go to work at Mark Center in Alexandria. I've been working at the Mark Center for almost three years. I'm smart and hardworking and I'm prompt. And I try to work independently on my own.
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Harold Michael: Larry's role is part of the setup crew. And his designation would be he's a setup staff member. He has to basically setup the conference rooms for all the conferences, tear them down as per the clients' needs and he does a wonderful job doing that. It's not just manual labor, basically; it's a very key role because without that we would not be able to function.
Jasmine: Are you ready to get started on the setup?
Larry Clay: Yes
Jasmine: OK.
Larry Clay: My typical day is Jasmine gives me the work order for many executive rooms that chairs need to be taken away from the other room to the new executive room. I was setting up conference rooms that need to be setup depending on the customer for how many people they need.
Carmencita Clay: At age four, Larry was diagnosed with Autism. The children's hospital we took him there to be diagnosed.
Clement Castellano: Autism is a spectrum disorder, so you'll have people who have very mild autism and then you can go through the spectrum and they'll have different characteristics of autism to very severe. Typically it's the social piece that's the most difficult part. It's hard to describe only because it's different for every individual and Larry came to us looking to increase his social skills and his career exploration and job opportunities. If you know Larry, met Larry, he's absolutely the life. He's always been delightful, always just been a happy guy, an extremely hard worker. Just has a very agreeable personality, but he was I would say he was a pretty anxious guy when I first met him. When Larry came to us, he had expressed an interest in doing office work. Most people with disabilities, certainly a lot of the ones that I work with don't have those same social opportunities so they're just not aware of what's out there. And so one of the primary missions is not just the training, but also the exposure to allow the students to try different things even if it might be something that they don't want to do because as everyone knows that's what being an adult is. It's trying things and seeing what you like, and what you don't like and what you may have thought was something that you were going to hate is something that you love and vice versa, so that was really the focus was to get Larry to try different things so he could make an informed decision about what he wanted to do when he could drive his own future.
Carmencita Clay: after Larry turned 18, he started getting the cash benefit from Social Security Administration, but they called it SSI. Shortly after he turned 18, also he was' he started working as a part time intern at Service Source. That was his first job.
Jan Williams: Service Source is a private, not for profit organization and we provide services to adults with disabilities. Service Source hired Larry to provide office supports for the rehabilitation program.
Clement Castellano: And service Source was able to help really flesh out and broaden that skill. All of the things that are not in a job description, what do you do when two supervisors give you two different sets of directions, how to work as part of a team, how to work independently, there are all these little things that are nowhere in a job description, but every employer expects you to bring that with you.
Carmencita Clay: After he started working, the cash benefits stopped. But still we were still getting support from Social Security through Ticket to Work program especially when he was looking for a job. As a beneficiary of SSI, they sent us information about the Ticket to Work program and they encouraged us to enroll him there so that's why I enrolled him.
Missy Crawford-Smith: I was Larry's job coach so Larry and I did what we call job development. We got together you know once, twice a week, we looked for jobs, we practiced interview skills. Did all of those job readiness type of things, cover letters and all that. And then when he would get interviews, I kind of help him go on the interview; make sure he had transportation and all of that. Once he started work we did job coaching.
Carmencita Clay: they helped us a lot in trying to get a job for him, and it was very competitive market when Larry transitioned. But finally the big break came with the Mark Center opening and it was perfect for him. Jan Williams: There was a position to help setup rooms and take care of the AV needs and Larry's name came to mind and that's because someone who had worked out of the main office with Larry while he was an intern knew him and got to know him, know his work ethic, know his personality and when they were opening she immediately thought of him and suggested that he apply.
Missy Crawford-Smith: As a work incentive counselor, I've worked with a lot of people who are transitioning off of social security cash benefits and a lot of them when they come to me thinking about going to work, have the concerns about what's going to happen to my cash benefits and even more concerns about what's going to happen to my healthcare coverage. What's great about the SSI program is they have a couple different work incentive programs to help you keep that Medicaid coverage.
Carmencita Clay: It's very important for Larry to work. It gives him a sense of accomplishment and makes him feel more independent and it's better that he is contributing to society and contributing to his community.
Missy Crawford-Smith: I think Larry has become so much more independent now that he's working. He dresses up and gets himself up and ready for work and it's really great to see how happy he is at work and as he's transitioned to a full time job in the workforce.
Larry Clay: I know how to use my ATM machine; I know how to budget my money for snacks lunches and breakfast. Harold Michael: I definitely think he enjoys working and he's always looking to work even when he's not physically setting up a room. He's actually asking to go on rounds and he has a schedule that keeps him occupied all the time and he never complains about it. Never.
Carmencita Clay: Oh Larry has come a long way. His dad and I talk about it. Never in our dreams did we imagine that he'll find a full time job and a good job at that, you know. He is gainfully employed and when we think about the time when he was 4 years old and he couldn't even talk and we look at him now, he's fairly independent and we're just grateful. So I think that's his greatest achievement right now.
Larry Clay: Important to go to work every day. It's exhilarating. I try to come to work with a smile and I am punctual. It makes me feel happy and proud.
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