A Facebook post lands a woman with Down syndrome a job

"I don't want to just sit there, I'll get bored at my house," said Laura Gulick. The 25-year-old Ottawa native has Down syndrome, and like many adults with disabilities, few job prospects.

That all changed when her mom, Leslie, posted a message last week on Ladies who Lunch, a networking group for businesswomen, reports CTV News Ottawa. As Leslie wrote,

I am looking for some guidance/assistance. My 25 year old daughter has Down Syndrome. She is looking for paid employment for 8-10 hrs per week. She attends Algonquin College in the mornings. She has had job placements through school and has volunteered for a year at The Salvation Army sorting clothing. Although she has volunteered, she is anxious to earn some money. We have registered with various agencies and she does have a job coach. I am wondering if anyone knows of someone who could use her services. She is dependable and is quite competent, using the bus. We live in Barrhaven. She has had placements in clothing retail and grocery. Other possible matches would be restaurants, movie theaters or shredding companies. Any other suggestions would be welcomed!

Joelle Langlois Rivington, who owns a consignment shop wrote back, had a great suggestion. She wrote,

Hi Leslie, I own Boomerang Kids in Barrhaven and would love to provide your daughter a paid job. We are a very fun loving bunch of moms working at the store and she would be made to feel very welcome! I had an uncle with Down Syndrome so have some experience although he was a typical "male" :) We also have volunteers from a Barrhaven autistic school working for experience a couple hours a week. We donate a lot of clothing toys during the week so she can help me with putting them into the right hands. It may not be the full 10 hours now since it's slower but we'll definitely work around her schedule. PM me if you think she'd enjoy working with us.

As of this week, Laura is working at the Boomerang Consignment shop.

Leslie and Laura Gulick

Stories like this seriously inspire me, despite the depressing statistic I've read that unemployment for people with disabilities is twice that of the general population. Networking: I can do that! I've always figured that, as with many things in Max's life, it would rest on mine and Dave's shoulders to someday help Max find work because we wouldn't necessarily be able to count on programs. That was this mom's experience; as she noted in a comment, "What was accomplished with this group in ONE HOUR far surpassed any progress I have made in 2.5 YEARS!!"  

I try not to predict Max's future because it never does me any good. Given Max's firefighter passion, though, I have daydreamed. Perhaps he could be a social media consultant for a fire station; he is pretty good on his iPad (and who knows what technology will exist by then). Or maybe he could help educate school kids about fire safety; he's already somewhat of an expert, as we discovered during yesterday's impromptu home fire drill.

Or, well, who knows? Max may very well develop other passions. Whatever work or hobby occupies him and makes him happy will make me happy, too. Though I'd especially appreciate it if he got a job involving cupcakes.

Image of Laura: screen grab, CTV News video; image of Leslie and Laura, Facebook