October 27, 2025 • 16 mins
Hosts Meghan (Smallwood) and Patrick (Cadigan) discuss the National Disability Employment Awareness Month and share about their experiences with a recent local event they attended. They talk about the events' featured presentations, breakout sessions, and activities that included free professional headshots and VR work simulations. They highlighted the importance of their school systems 40+ partnerships with local businesses including an upcoming initiative to use film students to create promotional videos for those partnerships. Join the conversation!
Episode Keywords:National Disability Employment Awareness Month, employment opportunities, breakout sessions, VR, professional headshots, virtual reality headset, work scenarios, career exploration, workforce development, partnerships, business support, student employment, community relationships, film projects, DDA support
Links:
National Disability Employment Awareness Month (page)
Office of Disability Employment Policy (site)
Meta Quest VR Headset (site)
Headshot (page)
Supplemental Security Income (page)
Ep. 021 SSI (page)
Ep. 061. Interview: Donna & Bayo from The Difference 2-17 (page)
Maryland (specific) Links/Supports:
Workforce Development (page)
To download a copy of a transcript for this episode or any of our previous conversations, click here.
Also visit our Podcast webpage to find links to all of our other discussions; go to www.p2transition.com.
Additional information about post-secondary transition can be found at our website.
The Post-Secondary Transition Podcast Facebook page.
Visit our YouTube Channel to find additional video resources.
Intro/Outro music by AudioCoffee from Pixabay.
Transition music by Joseph McDade from Transistor.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Cadigan (00:00):
Welcome back to the Postsecondary Transition
(00:02):
podcast, where we haveconversations around the ins and
outs and everything in betweenof the transition process for
families of students withdisabilities. I am one of the
hosts. My name is PatrickCadigan.
Meghan Smallwood (00:13):
And my name is Meghan Smallwood, and we are
both public school transitioncoordinators.
Patrick Cadigan (00:18):
Meghan and I are back for another discussion,
and what we wanted to highlightwas that right now, we are in
the month of October, and thisis the National Disability
Employment Awareness Month, andalong those lines, both Meghan
and I had an opportunity toattend an event that was
(00:39):
obviously local for us, but wewanted to kind of talk about
that. So, Meghan, you want to dothe big reveal?
Meghan Smallwood (00:46):
Yeah, absolutely. So we kind of
partnered with the Commission ondisabilities for our County this
year and went in a different ona different path, and they
typically go a lot of times.
They'll do presentations tohonor the businesses that we
have partnerships with for ourstudents and employ our students
with disabilities, which I'lltalk a little bit more a lot
later, but this year, theywanted to try and bring in more
(01:08):
for those students withdisabilities to help them
prepare for these employmentopportunities. So we had a great
event this past week where notonly did they give
presentations, but they provideda lot of breakout sessions for
our students focused aroundgearing them ready for
employment.
Patrick Cadigan (01:29):
Yeah, that was one of the things that because,
of course, as soon as we gotthere and we got everybody in
and they were sitting down, theyhad started this presentation,
and it very quickly becameobvious that this was something
that would probably benefiteither providers or families. I
(01:51):
will say that initially thatworried me, but then we started
to get wind of the activitiesthat I had planned for our
students. And did you want totalk about that? Because that
was cool.
Meghan Smallwood (02:05):
The thing that really blew me away was the fact
that they brought someone in tooffer headshots for the
individual. So all our studentsthat attended got free
professional headshots, whichthey can use for their portfolio
resume moving forward, which isgreat. And then they also had
other activities, such as acareer party, where they were
able to take additional careerinterest inventories with some
(02:26):
of our workforce counselors,which it was great to build upon
that relationship, meeting themthere and getting to know the
students, because it's sowonderful when we can
collaborate and have additionalresources come in with their
different experiences and andprofessional opinions to help
the students you know, justbuild on what we've already been
(02:47):
doing. And I know you were withstudents for the VR, right?
Patrick Cadigan (02:51):
Yeah, so that was another activity that they
had. So one of the side roomsthey had, they had set it up,
and they had a meta quest VRheadset that was there, and the
software that they were usingpresented different work case
scenarios. So like, for example,they had one for construction.
(03:13):
They had one that, if you werelike, if I remember correctly, I
want to say it was like workingin a science lab. I did, I have
a background in construction, soof course, that was the one that
I focused on, but...
Meghan Smallwood (03:25):
Oh, did you actually get to put it on and do
it?
Patrick Cadigan (03:27):
Yes, I did.
Meghan Smallwood (03:27):
Because I did not because there was the
batteries running low and Ididn't want to monopolize it,
but I was very interested to seewhat it'd be like.
Patrick Cadigan (03:34):
Yeah. Now again, one of the things that I
found really interesting, Iwatch our students participate
in this activity, and I thoughtit was really cool, and it they
seem to navigate fairly well. Iwill tell you that for me, I got
the headset on, I got it, Iunderstood, and yeah, I was kind
(03:57):
of struggling, but, but it was,but it had multiple
designations, I guess is thebest way. So, like I said, like,
construction and science andlike, if you were working in
retail and things like that, sothe students were given the
opportunity to pick which onethat they wanted to use. But I
just thought it was a neat toolto have, and it got the kids
(04:23):
excited about what, what it wasthat they were doing.
Meghan Smallwood (04:28):
Yeah they all were jumping up to go over, and
they were bummed when I had torecharge, but they couldn't wait
to get back. So that was reallycool to see, and it was
something that I had neverexperienced or even knew about
as a resource. So I'm excited totry and, you know, continue the
conversation about how we caninclude that in our career
(04:48):
exploration with our students.
Patrick Cadigan (04:50):
I will say, though I gave a huge, I give/I
gave, a huge shout out to theworkforce development team that
was there; local to us. Towardsthe end of the event, I was just
asking the students, like, "Hey,what did you guys think? What
did you like?" And they all keptreferring back to the party,
(05:13):
quote, unquote, the party.
Meghan Smallwood (05:14):
Yeah.
Patrick Cadigan (05:14):
And so I went into them, into the team that
put that on, and I told them,and they were very excited. But
the kids, they loved it, theactivity itself, the way that
they did it, the kids were up ontheir feet, they were moving
around. They were being askedquestions that were relevant to
them. And it just, it was, itwas a lot of fun to watch.
Meghan Smallwood (05:37):
Yeah, and I was just another opportunity to
be able to get these students,you know, out thinking about
life in the future for them,outside of the walls of the
school, even outside of, likethe work site, because there's
such limited time I feel ontheir day and our day with them,
to be able to do these kinds ofthings. So it was just really
nice to be able to highlight anevent like that, while also, you
(06:01):
know, thinking about all thepartnerships that we have in our
community with businesses whohire these students after they
exit.
Patrick Cadigan (06:08):
One of the thing that I thought was really
cool, that I was sad that I didnot get an opportunity to join
in with was that, like we weresaying In the beginning, that
they were doing presentations,informational presentations, and
they were sharing out this, thisstuff, and one of them was about
(06:28):
SSI, and constant, constanttopic of conversation that comes
up with us. And from what I hadheard, it was a really good
presentation, but I was just sobusy, you know, running around
and doing other stuff that Ididn't...
Meghan Smallwood (06:43):
Well don't worry, I got the contact
information, so...
Patrick Cadigan (06:46):
Fantastic.
Meghan Smallwood (06:46):
I will make sure to reach out and continue
that conversation for us.
Patrick Cadigan (06:50):
Oh, that's cool, yeah, because I did, I
heard that that it was reallygood, it was informative.
Meghan Smallwood (06:55):
And of course, the food that was provided was a
hit with the kids. So that'salways a plus.
Patrick Cadigan (06:59):
You know, it's one of those things that kind of
goes unrecognized, I thinksometimes, because, of course,
as people like us who have beento events like this, you walk
in, "yeah, they have food, youknow, no big deal." But I will
tell you what, man, the kids areso excited, because they were
like, can we go over there?
Yeah, go, like, this is, this isfor you. And it was just, it was
(07:23):
just a lot of fun.
Meghan Smallwood (07:27):
Yeah, definitely was so and I know I
mentioned the partnershipsearlier that, you know, we
prepare our students for withthe businesses. I mean, just as
we're thinking of NationalDisability Employment Awareness
Month, you know, I was justreflecting on all the great
relationships we've built withbusinesses in our area. We have
(07:48):
over at least 40 differentbusinesses that truly support
our students, and not only that,when they leave, they hire them
on for staff. And I love beingable to go out in the community
and see these students working,as, you know, older, 20
something year old, 30 somethingyear olds. You know, we had a
(08:09):
student who was retiring, youknow, from his position at a
local grocery store afterstarting there so many years
ago. So it's just great. And Ilove being able to give shout
outs to those businesses. Andone thing that we've been trying
to do this year that was on ourcommission transition commission
(08:29):
mind last year was reallyhighlighting and really trying
to provide some advertising andmedia recognition of some of
these partnerships that havebeen there for so long. So what
we're starting to do is workingwith film classes in the county
and having some of thesestudents who are in the film
(08:52):
class use that as like aproject. So we're working and
collaborating to give them alist of these businesses that
have truly valued having ourstudents, and have been so open
to working with them, and that,you know, providing that
inclusive opportunity. And thefilm students are creating these
videos where they are going tointerview the manager and the
(09:15):
students and just give videofootage of the partnership
happening, what the students aredoing there, so that we can use
it as a tool for our county andfor the businesses too. So it's
just another way to highlightit, and that we don't always
just use one month celebratethis employment awareness of
hiring our students.
Patrick Cadigan (09:35):
I think at any other time, if you had brought
up those partnerships, Iprobably would not have
understood what it was that youwere talking about. But you
know, as our longtime listenerswill know, this is still only my
technically, my second year as atransition coordinator, and the
first year where I've really hadto dive into some of the work
study opportunities that ourstudents have available to them.
(09:57):
And so now I am seeing in realtime, these partnerships that
have been built and have beenforged, and, yeah, these places
are just really, reallyimpressive. And I just, and so,
like, accommodating and soflexible and so kind, and it's
just, it's been really, reallynice to see.
Meghan Smallwood (10:18):
And it's always exciting to me at the end
of the year, when we have togather the data up, you know,
for our county to show wherewe've been, where the students
have been working, who we'vebeen supporting, and the list
seems to just grow, and we addnew ones and new relationships,
but we also keep those, thosethat we've maintained for years.
So I always love looking back onthat. And like you were saying
(10:40):
with the work sites, you know,every year we start a fresh with
some students, but we have thosepeople that are like, Yeah, who
can we have? We want more. Wewant this student. Or, you know,
asking for specific ones they'vehad in the past, or, best case,
when they're graduating, hey,fill out a job application. Or,
Hey, I know your work ethicbecause you've been volunteering
here. Let's get you a job. Sothere's so many instances, and
(11:03):
that's why I always tell thefamilies, like, don't be afraid
if they really are enjoying it,and you they have a really good
relationship to follow up withthe manager outside of the
school, outside of you knowwhat's going on with the school
staff? You know you can buildupon, especially if it's in
their community. And I alwaysencourage the families, if you
know your child's volunteering,or have a work study site
(11:26):
somewhere, why not go in thereand and you know, just frequent
it and get to know where they'regoing, and get to know the
people and introduce yourself,just to continue to build that
relationship.
Patrick Cadigan (11:37):
I remember back not too long ago, when we had
our conversation with TheDifference 2-17 and one of the
things that they were really bigon was sharing out those
partnerships that they hadcreated. And when I had to go
back and do those show notes,but, but it really did make me
appreciate doing shout outslike, you know, showing
(12:00):
appreciation when it comes tothese work sites that with the
partnerships that we have beenable to build, I will tell
anybody who will listen to melike, oh, well, I have this one
student who's going here, andthis place is great. And if you
ever get an opportunity, makesure to buy from there and just
stuff like that. So shouting outto them as well.
Meghan Smallwood (12:19):
And it's always great when you have
different businesses that arefriends with each other, or, you
know, you have a manager or anowner of one place that's
friends with somebody else, andthey're sharing these
experiences. So you get a callor an email from that other
person, you know, so and so toldme about this. I'm interested in
hearing about, you know, how wecan partner too. So it's just
great when you hear that word ofmouth traveling, and I think,
(12:43):
like, it doesn't even need to bein their worksite, like we have
a number of partnerships withbusinesses that we are bringing
their stuff to the students inthe school, you know, so it's a
different form of employment,quote, unquote, but we're
helping these places. And it's,it's just mutual beneficial,
because the students get to workon their work skills, and the
(13:04):
business is benefiting fromhaving the work done. So I think
about all those too when I'madding on to the list of
partnerships we have, because wehave different companies, for
example, real estate agencies weused to help with different
subscription boxes, where thestudents will put together the
materials for them, you know.
And rather than bring thestudents to them, we brought the
materials to us, you know. Sothere's just so many different
(13:26):
ways, and that's why I thinkit's just so important. As
families are venturing, youknow, after exit, looking at
that transition, thinking aboutwhat can be done. You know, I
feel like we've talked aboutthis many times before, but what
kind of DDA support can you useto continue those kinds of
relationships with thesebusinesses and and develop your
own on top of it? You know, itdoesn't have to be reinventing
(13:50):
the wheel. You know, you can gooff of what they've done. You
can use your supports, whetherit be bringing in a job coach or
I know, you know, some otheroptions could be within the
business, if they have a coworker that works there and has
gotten to know the individual,and hey, a little incentive from
DDA could provide them a stipendor little extra money, and
(14:13):
they're providing those naturalsupports to your individual. I
mean, it's just, I think it's soimportant to just think outside
the box when we look ahead atemployment.
Patrick Cadigan (14:24):
Yeah, yes indeed. And I do, I am going to
say that that is a great placeto bring this conversation to a
close. Meghan and I are bothreally excited, because we have
some upcoming conversations.
We're still planning. We'restill like on in the planning
phase of it, you know, gettingdays and dates and things like
(14:46):
that. But we really do have somefun stuff coming up, and we're
really looking forward to that.
Meghan Smallwood (14:52):
Yeah, definitely we're going to be
busy coming up...
Patrick Cadigan (14:54):
Yeah.
Meghan Smallwood (14:54):
...but it'll be totally worth it.
Patrick Cadigan (14:56):
Yeah, we are definitely going to be busy, but
we thank you again for joiningwith us, and we make sure to
come back because we have moreto come.
Meghan Smallwood (15:04):
Yep, thank you.
So don't forget that you canfind our discussions everywhere,
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(15:25):
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including playlists forguardianship, alternatives to
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(15:48):
check out our website,www.postsecondarytransition.com,
full of information and links tomore resources. Thanks again. So
much for your time spent withus, and we look forward to
talking again with you soon.
Welcome back to the Postsecondary Transition
(00:02):
podcast, where we haveconversations around the ins and
outs and everything in betweenof the transition process for
families of students withdisabilities. I am one of the
hosts. My name is PatrickCadigan.
Meghan Smallwood (00:13):
And my name is Meghan Smallwood, and we are
both public school transitioncoordinators.
Patrick Cadigan (00:18):
Meghan and I are back for another discussion,
and what we wanted to highlightwas that right now, we are in
the month of October, and thisis the National Disability
Employment Awareness Month, andalong those lines, both Meghan
and I had an opportunity toattend an event that was
(00:39):
obviously local for us, but wewanted to kind of talk about
that. So, Meghan, you want to dothe big reveal?
Meghan Smallwood (00:46):
Yeah, absolutely. So we kind of
partnered with the Commission ondisabilities for our County this
year and went in a different ona different path, and they
typically go a lot of times.
They'll do presentations tohonor the businesses that we
have partnerships with for ourstudents and employ our students
with disabilities, which I'lltalk a little bit more a lot
later, but this year, theywanted to try and bring in more
(01:08):
for those students withdisabilities to help them
prepare for these employmentopportunities. So we had a great
event this past week where notonly did they give
presentations, but they provideda lot of breakout sessions for
our students focused aroundgearing them ready for
employment.
Patrick Cadigan (01:29):
Yeah, that was one of the things that because,
of course, as soon as we gotthere and we got everybody in
and they were sitting down, theyhad started this presentation,
and it very quickly becameobvious that this was something
that would probably benefiteither providers or families. I
(01:51):
will say that initially thatworried me, but then we started
to get wind of the activitiesthat I had planned for our
students. And did you want totalk about that? Because that
was cool.
Meghan Smallwood (02:05):
The thing that really blew me away was the fact
that they brought someone in tooffer headshots for the
individual. So all our studentsthat attended got free
professional headshots, whichthey can use for their portfolio
resume moving forward, which isgreat. And then they also had
other activities, such as acareer party, where they were
able to take additional careerinterest inventories with some
(02:26):
of our workforce counselors,which it was great to build upon
that relationship, meeting themthere and getting to know the
students, because it's sowonderful when we can
collaborate and have additionalresources come in with their
different experiences and andprofessional opinions to help
the students you know, justbuild on what we've already been
(02:47):
doing. And I know you were withstudents for the VR, right?
Patrick Cadigan (02:51):
Yeah, so that was another activity that they
had. So one of the side roomsthey had, they had set it up,
and they had a meta quest VRheadset that was there, and the
software that they were usingpresented different work case
scenarios. So like, for example,they had one for construction.
(03:13):
They had one that, if you werelike, if I remember correctly, I
want to say it was like workingin a science lab. I did, I have
a background in construction, soof course, that was the one that
I focused on, but...
Meghan Smallwood (03:25):
Oh, did you actually get to put it on and do
it?
Patrick Cadigan (03:27):
Yes, I did.
Meghan Smallwood (03:27):
Because I did not because there was the
batteries running low and Ididn't want to monopolize it,
but I was very interested to seewhat it'd be like.
Patrick Cadigan (03:34):
Yeah. Now again, one of the things that I
found really interesting, Iwatch our students participate
in this activity, and I thoughtit was really cool, and it they
seem to navigate fairly well. Iwill tell you that for me, I got
the headset on, I got it, Iunderstood, and yeah, I was kind
(03:57):
of struggling, but, but it was,but it had multiple
designations, I guess is thebest way. So, like I said, like,
construction and science andlike, if you were working in
retail and things like that, sothe students were given the
opportunity to pick which onethat they wanted to use. But I
just thought it was a neat toolto have, and it got the kids
(04:23):
excited about what, what it wasthat they were doing.
Meghan Smallwood (04:28):
Yeah they all were jumping up to go over, and
they were bummed when I had torecharge, but they couldn't wait
to get back. So that was reallycool to see, and it was
something that I had neverexperienced or even knew about
as a resource. So I'm excited totry and, you know, continue the
conversation about how we caninclude that in our career
(04:48):
exploration with our students.
Patrick Cadigan (04:50):
I will say, though I gave a huge, I give/I
gave, a huge shout out to theworkforce development team that
was there; local to us. Towardsthe end of the event, I was just
asking the students, like, "Hey,what did you guys think? What
did you like?" And they all keptreferring back to the party,
(05:13):
quote, unquote, the party.
Meghan Smallwood (05:14):
Yeah.
Patrick Cadigan (05:14):
And so I went into them, into the team that
put that on, and I told them,and they were very excited. But
the kids, they loved it, theactivity itself, the way that
they did it, the kids were up ontheir feet, they were moving
around. They were being askedquestions that were relevant to
them. And it just, it was, itwas a lot of fun to watch.
Meghan Smallwood (05:37):
Yeah, and I was just another opportunity to
be able to get these students,you know, out thinking about
life in the future for them,outside of the walls of the
school, even outside of, likethe work site, because there's
such limited time I feel ontheir day and our day with them,
to be able to do these kinds ofthings. So it was just really
nice to be able to highlight anevent like that, while also, you
(06:01):
know, thinking about all thepartnerships that we have in our
community with businesses whohire these students after they
exit.
Patrick Cadigan (06:08):
One of the thing that I thought was really
cool, that I was sad that I didnot get an opportunity to join
in with was that, like we weresaying In the beginning, that
they were doing presentations,informational presentations, and
they were sharing out this, thisstuff, and one of them was about
(06:28):
SSI, and constant, constanttopic of conversation that comes
up with us. And from what I hadheard, it was a really good
presentation, but I was just sobusy, you know, running around
and doing other stuff that Ididn't...
Meghan Smallwood (06:43):
Well don't worry, I got the contact
information, so...
Patrick Cadigan (06:46):
Fantastic.
Meghan Smallwood (06:46):
I will make sure to reach out and continue
that conversation for us.
Patrick Cadigan (06:50):
Oh, that's cool, yeah, because I did, I
heard that that it was reallygood, it was informative.
Meghan Smallwood (06:55):
And of course, the food that was provided was a
hit with the kids. So that'salways a plus.
Patrick Cadigan (06:59):
You know, it's one of those things that kind of
goes unrecognized, I thinksometimes, because, of course,
as people like us who have beento events like this, you walk
in, "yeah, they have food, youknow, no big deal." But I will
tell you what, man, the kids areso excited, because they were
like, can we go over there?
Yeah, go, like, this is, this isfor you. And it was just, it was
(07:23):
just a lot of fun.
Meghan Smallwood (07:27):
Yeah, definitely was so and I know I
mentioned the partnershipsearlier that, you know, we
prepare our students for withthe businesses. I mean, just as
we're thinking of NationalDisability Employment Awareness
Month, you know, I was justreflecting on all the great
relationships we've built withbusinesses in our area. We have
(07:48):
over at least 40 differentbusinesses that truly support
our students, and not only that,when they leave, they hire them
on for staff. And I love beingable to go out in the community
and see these students working,as, you know, older, 20
something year old, 30 somethingyear olds. You know, we had a
(08:09):
student who was retiring, youknow, from his position at a
local grocery store afterstarting there so many years
ago. So it's just great. And Ilove being able to give shout
outs to those businesses. Andone thing that we've been trying
to do this year that was on ourcommission transition commission
(08:29):
mind last year was reallyhighlighting and really trying
to provide some advertising andmedia recognition of some of
these partnerships that havebeen there for so long. So what
we're starting to do is workingwith film classes in the county
and having some of thesestudents who are in the film
(08:52):
class use that as like aproject. So we're working and
collaborating to give them alist of these businesses that
have truly valued having ourstudents, and have been so open
to working with them, and that,you know, providing that
inclusive opportunity. And thefilm students are creating these
videos where they are going tointerview the manager and the
(09:15):
students and just give videofootage of the partnership
happening, what the students aredoing there, so that we can use
it as a tool for our county andfor the businesses too. So it's
just another way to highlightit, and that we don't always
just use one month celebratethis employment awareness of
hiring our students.
Patrick Cadigan (09:35):
I think at any other time, if you had brought
up those partnerships, Iprobably would not have
understood what it was that youwere talking about. But you
know, as our longtime listenerswill know, this is still only my
technically, my second year as atransition coordinator, and the
first year where I've really hadto dive into some of the work
study opportunities that ourstudents have available to them.
(09:57):
And so now I am seeing in realtime, these partnerships that
have been built and have beenforged, and, yeah, these places
are just really, reallyimpressive. And I just, and so,
like, accommodating and soflexible and so kind, and it's
just, it's been really, reallynice to see.
Meghan Smallwood (10:18):
And it's always exciting to me at the end
of the year, when we have togather the data up, you know,
for our county to show wherewe've been, where the students
have been working, who we'vebeen supporting, and the list
seems to just grow, and we addnew ones and new relationships,
but we also keep those, thosethat we've maintained for years.
So I always love looking back onthat. And like you were saying
(10:40):
with the work sites, you know,every year we start a fresh with
some students, but we have thosepeople that are like, Yeah, who
can we have? We want more. Wewant this student. Or, you know,
asking for specific ones they'vehad in the past, or, best case,
when they're graduating, hey,fill out a job application. Or,
Hey, I know your work ethicbecause you've been volunteering
here. Let's get you a job. Sothere's so many instances, and
(11:03):
that's why I always tell thefamilies, like, don't be afraid
if they really are enjoying it,and you they have a really good
relationship to follow up withthe manager outside of the
school, outside of you knowwhat's going on with the school
staff? You know you can buildupon, especially if it's in
their community. And I alwaysencourage the families, if you
know your child's volunteering,or have a work study site
(11:26):
somewhere, why not go in thereand and you know, just frequent
it and get to know where they'regoing, and get to know the
people and introduce yourself,just to continue to build that
relationship.
Patrick Cadigan (11:37):
I remember back not too long ago, when we had
our conversation with TheDifference 2-17 and one of the
things that they were really bigon was sharing out those
partnerships that they hadcreated. And when I had to go
back and do those show notes,but, but it really did make me
appreciate doing shout outslike, you know, showing
(12:00):
appreciation when it comes tothese work sites that with the
partnerships that we have beenable to build, I will tell
anybody who will listen to melike, oh, well, I have this one
student who's going here, andthis place is great. And if you
ever get an opportunity, makesure to buy from there and just
stuff like that. So shouting outto them as well.
Meghan Smallwood (12:19):
And it's always great when you have
different businesses that arefriends with each other, or, you
know, you have a manager or anowner of one place that's
friends with somebody else, andthey're sharing these
experiences. So you get a callor an email from that other
person, you know, so and so toldme about this. I'm interested in
hearing about, you know, how wecan partner too. So it's just
great when you hear that word ofmouth traveling, and I think,
(12:43):
like, it doesn't even need to bein their worksite, like we have
a number of partnerships withbusinesses that we are bringing
their stuff to the students inthe school, you know, so it's a
different form of employment,quote, unquote, but we're
helping these places. And it's,it's just mutual beneficial,
because the students get to workon their work skills, and the
(13:04):
business is benefiting fromhaving the work done. So I think
about all those too when I'madding on to the list of
partnerships we have, because wehave different companies, for
example, real estate agencies weused to help with different
subscription boxes, where thestudents will put together the
materials for them, you know.
And rather than bring thestudents to them, we brought the
materials to us, you know. Sothere's just so many different
(13:26):
ways, and that's why I thinkit's just so important. As
families are venturing, youknow, after exit, looking at
that transition, thinking aboutwhat can be done. You know, I
feel like we've talked aboutthis many times before, but what
kind of DDA support can you useto continue those kinds of
relationships with thesebusinesses and and develop your
own on top of it? You know, itdoesn't have to be reinventing
(13:50):
the wheel. You know, you can gooff of what they've done. You
can use your supports, whetherit be bringing in a job coach or
I know, you know, some otheroptions could be within the
business, if they have a coworker that works there and has
gotten to know the individual,and hey, a little incentive from
DDA could provide them a stipendor little extra money, and
(14:13):
they're providing those naturalsupports to your individual. I
mean, it's just, I think it's soimportant to just think outside
the box when we look ahead atemployment.
Patrick Cadigan (14:24):
Yeah, yes indeed. And I do, I am going to
say that that is a great placeto bring this conversation to a
close. Meghan and I are bothreally excited, because we have
some upcoming conversations.
We're still planning. We'restill like on in the planning
phase of it, you know, gettingdays and dates and things like
(14:46):
that. But we really do have somefun stuff coming up, and we're
really looking forward to that.
Meghan Smallwood (14:52):
Yeah, definitely we're going to be
busy coming up...
Patrick Cadigan (14:54):
Yeah.
Meghan Smallwood (14:54):
...but it'll be totally worth it.
Patrick Cadigan (14:56):
Yeah, we are definitely going to be busy, but
we thank you again for joiningwith us, and we make sure to
come back because we have moreto come.
Meghan Smallwood (15:04):
Yep, thank you.
So don't forget that you canfind our discussions everywhere,
Apple, Spotify, YouTube, musicand others. So hit that follow
button and you won't miss out,please. If you haven't already
(15:25):
done so, consider leaving areview, preferably a five star
one. It helps you spread theword and helps us, because we
know you're listening. Links tothe information from our
conversations are always in ourshow notes. Our YouTube channel
contains curated videos thatrevolve around transition,
including playlists forguardianship, alternatives to
guardianship ABLE accounts andmore to come. And then finally,
(15:48):
check out our website,www.postsecondarytransition.com,
full of information and links tomore resources. Thanks again. So
much for your time spent withus, and we look forward to
talking again with you soon.
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