This morning a young man by the name of Christopher Cabral attended our meeting. He came to tell us he needs help preparing for employment. Christopher’s disabilities do not in any way hinder his motivation to work and become a taxpaying member of society. Rotary is helping Christopher fulfill his dream.
Christopher recently entered the Irvine Unified School District’s Career Link program and is learning career preparation skills in his classroom. He comes from a close-knit family of nine children, five boys and four girls, and he lives in Irvine. He has a congenital disorder, which has affected four out of the five boys in the family, one who died over a year ago. Christopher is confined to a wheelchair and has very little communication skills. He currently uses a device called the DynaVox, which he is able to manipulate with a type of joy stick he uses with his finger. This is what he used today at our meeting to tell us, "I want to work.”
Linda O’Neil, director of Career links, and Paul Harvey, a volunteer in the program, gave a compelling presentation for a devise to help Christopher better communicate with others. They would like to purchase an iPad 2, and also a software program called Proloquo2Go. This device has been successful for those with Autism, or any person with a disability that involves communication disorders. This program will help Christopher with a more rapid method of enabling him to engage in basic greeting conversation.
When Career Links is able to provide Christopher with a new communication device, they will help him find employment in the community. An ideal job would be for Christopher to work at an Apple Store as a demonstrator for his Apple iPad 2 with Proloquo2Go. Christopher and his assistant would be a sales team to demonstrate the value of these two technologies and what it can do to help others with disabilities.
The estimated cost for the devise is $2,361. This morning our club presented Career Links with a check in the amount of $1,500, they still have a ways to go to purchase the device and pay for the required training for Christopher.
