A few years ago, Chandler Doucet, 22, was struggling to find meaningful employment in a field he loved.
“I was doing minimum wage, physical labour jobs, and it was really hard,” Doucet said a YouTube video.
That is until he enrolled in the Autism CanTech! (ACT!) program last year, which is offered by NorQuest College in Edmonton.
“Working with data and this technology, working from a computer, it’s 100 per cent something I don’t think I’d be able to land myself in without having something like this come up,” he said.
Chandler Doucet, 22, an ACT! graduate from NorQuest College in Edmonton. Humber College is adopting the program. Photo credit: Autism CanTech!
Doucet graduated from the program last year, which empowers autistic youth to gain meaningful long-term employment in the digital workforce and helps employers creative inclusive workplaces.
Humber College is joining NorQuest College and Douglas College in New Westminster, B.C., by offering the ACT! program for the first time this year. The ACT! program will be offered both in-person and virtually at Humber from April 18 to Oct. 7, 2022.
The program will continue at Humber with a second cohort on Sept. 5, 2022.
The program will help young adults with autism between the ages of 18 and 30 perform data processing for businesses in the digital economy.
ACT! NorQuest College graduate Tanner Arnold, 23, said in the YouTube video enrolling in the program changed his life.
“I was a little nervous at first,” Arnold said. “But when I heard about it, it seemed like the perfect fit for someone on the spectrum who’s really into technology, into computers, video games, programming.”
Tanner Arnold, 23, a graduate from NorQuest College's Autism CanTech! program. Photo credit: Autism CanTech!
Arnold’s mother Cheryl O’Neill said there’s nothing negative about the program, only positives.
“The program is there to help your kids, it’s set up to help them,” O’Neill said.
Geraldine Babcock, Humber College’s director of Community Outreach and Workforce Development, said the program is designed to have students land a position in the digital economy.
“This program will assist employers in finding employees that meet their labour force needs, from a pool of talent that would otherwise remain unrepresented in their businesses,” Babcock said in an e-mail to Humber News.
She said the program supports Humber College’s strategic plan pillars to support a healthy and inclusive community.
Students in the program will also participate in a two-month paid work placement.
After graduating from the program, Arnold was employed full-time at a software development company.
“Since ACT! I now sustain a job as an operational support specialist for a software development company,” he said.
The program showed his value and taught him a lot about who he is, Arnold said.
“It was a huge confidence booster,” he said. “It’s changed my life for the better, and I’m pretty sure it will most likely change yours.”
Doucet said one of the best parts of the program was the people he worked alongside.
“There was a level of enthusiasm and support that I don’t think I’ve seen before,” he said.
Doucet said the program helped him place a two-month work experience with a company that eventually hired him full-time.
“I don’t think it can be stressed enough that you almost never have someone go from being on government supports, having no idea what they’re doing, and within a few months, working full time,” he said.
Doucet said he was not expecting the level of assistance and friendliness he got from the program.
“Autism CanTech! gave me the structure and direction I was looking for,” he said. “It was what I needed.”