Neil Squire’s employment programs work in collaboration with programs across our five areas of focus — Innovation, Digital Literacy, Employment, Assistive Technology, and Collaboration — to ensure that our participants have the skills and access to technology to thrive in the workplace.
Our Empower3D participants learn how to assemble electronics as part of their manufacturing skills training in a course run by our Makers Making Change (new window) team.
Creative Employment Options participants receive assistive technology assessments from our Solutions (new window) team of occupational therapists, which is particularly helpful for participants with invisible disabilities. Participants also often receive training in our digital literacy programs when they need to upgrade their skills for employment — perhaps they are looking to switch careers and need new skills, or they have a long employment gap and need to brush up on Microsoft Word.
“Technology and assistive technologies are integrated in every aspect of our work when we support clients,” explains Patty Lavakittichaiyant, National Program Manager for our Creative Employment Options program. “We have well-rounded types of services, sometimes all of the services are kind of intertwined according to the client’s needs.”
Our employment specialists also guide participants in using new technologies like AI in the job search process, including many who have never used it before. We are currently setting up internal advisory committees to study all facets of AI for people with disabilities, particularly in relation to their job seeking and long-term employment opportunities.
“Of course, we do encourage clients to effectively use AI to reduce the time spent on some of the tasks,” Patty shares. “Mindfulness around how to best use AI is something that we constantly talk to clients all the time. We kind of try to teach clients to think of it as an assistive tool, rather than having it doing the all the work for you, because it will never replace an actual human. So, the mindfulness and education around that is a big thing right now for us in terms of educating clients, helping them use AI effectively while being cognizant of potential risks.”
This article originally appeared in our 2024-2025 Annual Report.