Will Work For Change

My son turns twelve tomorrow. He's finishing his sixth grade year in school: Charlie was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2; a few months later, his education began and it's pretty much continued ever since. Charlie started "Early Intervention"/ABA/special ed preschool (or however you want to call it) when he was just over two years old and has been in some kind of educational setting year-round ever since. If I added up all the ABA therapists, teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, Adapted Physical Education teachers, music teachers, that he's had, I suspect the number would be over 50. (My son has been in a 1:1 teacher:student teaching ratio for all of his schooling.)

Many of Charlie's home ABA therapists have been college students who were still figuring out their careers and life paths. A good number of them have become special education teachers, speech therapists, and behavior analysts, and continued to teach children on the spectrum. Many others have become regular ed teachers and one is studying to be a social worker. I've stayed in contact with a couple of Charlie's former therapists and teachers over the years (there's been a couple of weddings and babies.....) and Jim and I've thanked them (especially those first therapists) for giving Charlie such a good educational foundation; for teaching him to learn how to learn and to love doing it.

I'll admit I'm a bit prejudiced when it comes to teachers as I'm one myself. I teach college students (here) Latin, ancient Greek, and classical civilization (literature, history, religion, archaeology come next fall........). Or rather, that's what I officially teach in the classroom. I also advise a number of students about their schedules which is to say, I help (try to help) them figure out majors, how to fit in a double major/a minor/more than one minor/certificate program/study aboard/Honors Program requirements/internships. Along the way, the topic of "what are you planning to do after college" has a way of coming up, in part because I also advise students about applying to graduate school.

So I've been very excited about today's launch of a new part of the Change.org website, Jobs for Change, which is meant to be a portal via which individuals who want to make change in social issues can keep on doing that work through careers in public service. From the Vision Statement:

Jobs for Change is being launched at a time of both national crisis and historic opportunity.

The crisis we currently face is rooted in both our faltering economy and our systemic national failure to confront major challenges, from education to energy to health care. At the same time, the election of President Obama has inspired renewed interest in public service and provides a historic opportunity to mobilize the American people to address problems that have been ignored for too long.

The mission of Jobs for Change is to help take full advantage of this opportunity by recruiting a new generation of Americans into the nonprofit, government, and social enterprise sectors.

What this means in regard to autism and disability rights is something Dora and I still figuring out (would like to know what you think, of course). But I can say that sparking interest in jobs and careers in public service and non-profits and, too, in jobs that are about "being for others" (to draw on a phrase often heard at my college), about service to others, about making this planet a better, more compassionate, place---this is a great venture, and one full of hope.

Many of Charlie's former therapists have written to us about how the experience of teaching him transformed them and taught them what to do in their lives and careers. Likewise, my own teaching---of my students and of Charlie---has more than transformed me; my students and Charlie have indeed been my best teachers. Once I was a shy, bookish, girl-with-head-in-the-dictionary-or-some-tome; now I'm an animated teacher of not-always-scintillating subjects like participles and Roman religious rites. While I can't turn a cartwheel (never could, in fact), I'll dance around the room (figuratively and literally) to teach a lesson; to help my students, and Charlie, to learn. (It is true, that Charlie has been witness to more dancing than my students.) Teaching has taught me that I can change to "be for others"; my job has taught me about parts of myself that I never knew I had.

What more could you ask of a job?