How 1 Autistic Young Man Runs a Business. Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn shows how special-needs children can fare as adults

Joe Steffy is off to Overland Park, Kan., this week to do a PowerPoint presentation on his business, Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn. He’s a 23-year-old small-business man with a goal of $100,000 in sales by 2012. Joe also has autism and Down syndrome and is nonverbal. When he gives his talk, he will push buttons on an augmentative speech device to deliver the words. His audience will be parents who fervently hope their own special-needs children will be able to work, too.

Joe’s parents, Ray and Janet, didn’t agree with the school district assessment in their home town of Louisburg, Kan., that said Joe would never be able to work or live independently. "I’m one who can easily get ticked off," says Ray. "That ticked me off. We saw more in Joe than that. We set out to prove to the school that he had capabilities." They came across kettle corn while on a trip to Alaska and realized that all that popping, scooping, and serving suited Joe’s love of work.

By Nancy Shute

Full Story: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2009/04/02/how-1-autistic-young-man-runs-a-business_print.htm

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(Many thanks to Cary Griffin of Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC,

http://www.griffinhammis.com for passing this inspiring story along. Russ)