Meghan Smallwood: 0:00

Welcome, this is the Post Secondary Transition podcast where we have conversations around the ins and outs and everything in between of the transition process for families of students with disabilities. I'm one of the hosts. My name is Meghan Smallwood, and I am a public school transition coordinator. And as always, I have my co host with me.

Patrick Cadigan: 0:18

My name is Patrick Cadigan. I am also a public school transition coordinator. Really quickly before we begin, we wanted to give an extra shout out to Dr Katie Healey for letting us use a discussion from her Daily Disability Podcast. Now this is a podcast that shines light on someone or events that have an impact in the disability community, and you will find that podcast on all the major platforms; The Daily Disability Podcast. It was a very, very last minute ask of Dr Healey, and she really helped us out. So thank you, thank you for that. As we begin today's conversation, just a heads up, Meghan is actually out this time. There is no co host. There is only me. She is out gallivanting around the country on a much, much needed break. However, before leaving, we did sit down and we talked about what she wanted, what we wanted to present for today's discussion. We wanted to shine a light on people and ideas that are creating a more inclusive world. So, one of the transition coordinators that we work with, Ms. Erin Bourque, came up with this idea and well, you know what? All right, before I even talk about it, I want her to have an opportunity to introduce her idea. Okay, so Erin, you get to tell me; what are we doing here?

Erin Bourque: 2:02

We are showcasing all of our local businesses that support people with disabilities.

Patrick Cadigan: 2:11

And then approximately, how many vendors do you think are here?

Erin Bourque: 2:16

I don't know, maybe like 15.

Patrick Cadigan: 2:20

And now, where did you get the idea?

Erin Bourque: 2:23

In our head. I just I thought of it last year that there are a lot of really cool people that do really amazing things, and we just need to share it with other people.

Patrick Cadigan: 2:37

Not your typical business fair with like booths and buzz-words, but one with a deeper mission; to highlight and celebrate businesses that hire, support, and in some cases even run by individuals with special needs and their families. Erin shared her idea with Meghan, and off the two of them went. The fair took place right at a, right here at a local high school, or at least local to us and all with just one shared goal; to show what's possible when opportunity meets ability. Truthfully, for many students with disabilities, the trans...we've said it a million times the transition from school to adulthood can be full of uncertainty after graduation that structured support of the school system drops off, and families are often left wondering what comes next. So that's where this fair comes in. To highlight possibilities and it was very cool to walk around. There were to give you an idea, like, without even, you know, without the visual, obviously, but there were bakeries with treats, local grocery store employees (and their supervisors). There was an agency that Meghan and I collaborate with frequently, and they were there to continue to share out information. There was a T Shirt Company manned by a mom and her son, and in fact, I got a chance to chat with that student during the fair, and let's hear what he had to say: All right, do you want to tell me your name one more time?

Spencer: 4:24

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:25

What's your name?

Spencer: 4:26

Spencer.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:26

All right, Spencer, and what am I looking at? What are these?

Spencer: 4:30

Tie dye.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:31

Tie dye shirts? And what do you do with the tie dye shirts?

Spencer: 4:40

I'm not sure.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:40

Do you make them?

Spencer: 4:41

Yeah.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:42

Do you help make them?

Spencer: 4:43

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:44

And then after you're done helping to make them, do you then go back and sell them?

Spencer: 4:49

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:49

Oh, very cool. And do you like doing that?

Spencer: 4:52

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:52

Do you like doing all this kinds of work?

Spencer: 4:54

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:55

What is your favorite part of what you do?

Spencer: 5:01

Umm, I'm not sure,

Patrick Cadigan: 5:02

Not sure. Well, do you like picking out the shirts?

Spencer: 5:05

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 5:05

And do you like picking out the colors?

Spencer: 5:07

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 5:07

That sounds cool, man. All right. Well, I've even got some photos, so I just thought I'd ask some questions. Thank you.

Spencer: 5:15

You're welcome.

Patrick Cadigan: 5:19

Do not let him fool you. All right, Spencer was super chatty right up until I hit the record button. So I also got a chance to chat with Spencer and his mom later on. And just a, just a really nice conversation, really nice family, really great kid. I really enjoyed that honestly. I mean, there were moments like that pretty much everywhere at the fair, it really didn't need to be just about it wasn't just about finding a job. For me, the way that I saw it is, it was much more about creating a future. It was about showing families and the adults with disabilities who were there, the what life can look like after high school, and proving that employment can be tailored, flexible, full of dignity. One thing that struck me for the attending families and the adults with disabilities that they brought with them was the opportunity to see others and meet other role models who look like them, who sound like them, and most likely have faced those similar challenges. So events like these are really crucial, and while the world is slowly becoming more inclusive, obviously there's still a really long way to go. There is data to support the challenges that individuals with disabilities have when it comes to employment, they there are statistics to talk about, significantly higher unemployment rates, fewer accessible career paths. But that's not not due to a lack of talent or drive. It's often a lack of visibility and opportunity. So what's next? All right, so for starters, we hope to see more events like this across the country. Now, I do personally recall seeing information from a transition fair in Philadelphia. Now this was, this was like months, months and months back, maybe even a year back, but this transition fair highlighted micro businesses run by individuals with disabilities. And so, yes, I just, if the more of these we can see, I just think that it, it's something that we should be seeing a lot more of and I really, I know that Erin and Meghan plan to do this again, and they're just going to take all the data that they got from this first event so that can only help make future events better. So we so we'll be really looking forward to that. And speaking of, just to be clear, we're gonna highlight the businesses that came to the fair in the show notes. So if the opportunity presents itself, please support those businesses. And that's it. For me, it was really important that we wanted to talk about this. So I'll end off today with a call to action. Everyone deserves a path forward, and together, we can help build for that. So let's do that. All right. So thank you guys, and thank you for just putting up with me by myself. Next time, Meghan is planning on being back here, and we're going to talk about some more stuff. We have a whole list of things that we really would like to dive into some more, and we're going to have that out for you guys. So thank you again, and we'll be talking soon.

Meghan Smallwood: 9:18

As always, you'll find links to the information from our conversations in our show notes. We would love for the information from this and all our other discussions to reach as many families as possible, and we need your help to do that. You can find our conversations at www, dot P, twotransition.com, like, follow, share out the podcast. Our conversations are posted to all the major platforms, including Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube music, and that's just naming a few. So please share and share often. Please also check out our YouTube channel now that we've done some of the leg work for you by curating videos of topics that revolve around transition, we have playlists for guardianship. Ship alternatives to guardianship ABLE accounts, and there's more to come. So please be sure to subscribe there as well. And then finally, check out our website, which is full of information and links to resources around the transition process. So open your web browser of choice and surf to www.postsecondarytransition.com and we thank you so much for the time you spent with us, and look forward to talking again soon.