Stay Quirky, my friends, and support these businesses that provide employment opportunities and vocational training for autistic individuals! Buy their products and use their organizations as models for your own. Click on the business name or logo to visit their websites.
Check back here often – More to come soon!
Click here to read about the UN’s “Call to Action” to business leaders to facilitate broader access to employment for persons with autism.
Click here and here to read about why I created this page!
ANTHONY AT YOUR SERVICE
Edmonton area residents and businesses can hire Anthony for errands, pick up and delivery of just about anything. With his assistant Mike, Anthony is making a business for himself that keeps him directly involved with his community and offers a valuable service. This is a favorite of mine, because Anthony reminds me a lot of my kid! Anthony at Your Service also offers some great insights into how to support the entrepreneurship of the autistic person in your life – click HERE.
ARTISTAS CAFÉ AND ARTISTAS WORLD
Offering training and employment for individuals with autism at a café inside Mercedes-Benz of Tampa in Florida, Artistas is in the process of launching an expansion of their program at their new Artistas Development Center. Great things to come!
AUTISM CANDLES
Autism Candles offers both employment, wonderfully scented hand-poured candles, and active autism advocacy in Humboldt County, California and through their online store.
BENEFICIAL BEANS CAFÉ
An outreach program of the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC), Beneficial Beans Café offers on-the-job training and mentoring in customer service and barista skills at two locations in the Phoenix, Arizona area. In addition, autistic interns at the Beneficial Beans Urban Garden gain skills in gardening while providing Beneficial Beans Café with fresh herbs and vegetables. You can also purchase produce through their Community Supported Agriculture program here.
BITTERSWEET FARMS
Provides residential, vocational, recreational and other services on a beautiful 80-acre farm in Whitehouse, Ohio. Vocational opportunities include horticulture, animal care, creative arts, culinary, recycling, wood working and grounds keeping. They sell their pesto and creative arts products at their Etsy store.
BLUE STAR RECYCLERS
With locations in Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado, Blue Star Recyclers employs people with autism and other disabilities, while providing an environmental benefit to the community recycling used electronics, batteries and other materials. A win-win!
CRAFTERS FOR LIFE
Crafters for Life began as a high school speech and skills training lesson, and has blossomed into a post-graduation employer where young adults on the spectrum can create, package and sell a variety of hand-crafted products. Located in Bucks County, Pennslyvania.
CELEBRATE EDU
A new nonprofit venture aiming to train and support autistic entrepreneurs to develop their dream jobs, through an online training program.
THE CHOCOLATE SPECTRUM
A wonderful family-owned business located in Florida, their autistic employees create gorgeous chocolates in various assortments. “Creating Sweet Opportunities for Those with Autism,” The Chocolate Spectrum runs a Chocolatier training program and a portion of their profits are donated to various autism charities.
DIRT COFFEE
The Dirt coffee truck serves tasty coffee and espresso to the Denver, Colorado area with a non-profit mission to train, employ and empower young adults with ASD. Check out their online shop too.
EXTRAORDINARY VENTURES
Located in Chapel Hill, NC, Extraordinary Ventures (EV) develops and supports a range of small businesses that thrive on an autistic workforce. From handmade candles (buy online here), and laundry and office services, to bus cleaning and maintenance, these are real jobs with real wages.
EV is hoping to expand its model, working with partners across the country to explore ways that individual cities and towns can match the service needs of their communities with the skills of their autistic residents. A win-win!
GIRL AGAIN
Girl AGain is a fabulous resale boutique that matches its autistic employees’ expertise in the American Girl® product with a similarly passionate customer base. Located in White Plains, NY, this store offers gently used American Girl® dolls and accessories while providing its employees with training in retail, merchandising, and customer service.
Girl AGain is the first venture of Yes She Can, Inc., an organization which aims to support gainful employment and entrepreneurship for women on the spectrum. Go girls!!
ITINERIS BALTIMORE
The top priority for Itineris is meaningful employment for autistic adults. They provide job training and placement services, in addition to a day program. They match local employers with trained candidates for paid or voluntary positions, and work with their clients to help them build skills to find or create their ideal job.
LETTUCE WORK
“Harvesting Hope for Adults with Autism” – The Lettuce Work Foundation runs a commercial greenhouse in New Albany, Ohio, offering job training and employment opportunities for autistic young adults. Check them out for “fresh produce that’s locally grown, pesticide free, and supporting adults with autism.”
MADE BY BRAD
Brad, a young adult with autism, assembles furniture and other projects for people in the community of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Talk about doing what you love to make a living! A great business idea! Check out the video of Brad on his website, it’s awesome.
MIAMI IS KIND MACAROONS
A new venture in South Florida aiming to cater to your desire for gluten-free and delicious macaroons that are baked, packaged and sold by young adults with autism and other disabilities.
NONPAREIL INSTITUTE
nonPareil = “a person or thing so special, as to have no equal or match.” This new non-profit tech company in Plano, Texas, seems to be just that for young autistic adults with a knack for computers. nonPareil aims to provide technical training, employment and eventually housing, using a campus model. Their website showcases the cool apps, games, sites and projects their Crew have created. This looks like a unique and amazing venture!
OUR COFFEE WITH A CAUSE
A family-run business providing gainful employment for young adults with autism and related disabilities, Our Coffee with a Cause sells coffee and accessories through its online store. A portion of the proceeds go to autism charities, including Our Own Place, which aims to support single parents raising special needs children.
POPPIN’ JOE’S GOURMET KETTLE KORN
Another great family business idea, this one in Kansas. Popping Joe’s gourmet popcorn is made fresh when you order it and the company is owned by Joe Steffy, a young adult with DS-ASD. Looks like a tasty way to make a living!
PUZZLES BAKERY & CAFÉ
This brand new restaurant, located in Schenectady, New York, provides an integrated workplace, job opportunities in food handling and customer service, and a really tasty-looking menu. Puzzles Bakery & Café has a vision of expanding to other locations and serving as a model for similar ventures nationwide.
RISING TIDE CAR WASH
Dedicated to providing a successful workplace for autistic individuals, Rising Tide Car Wash in Parkland, Florida is a full-service car wash that is enthusiastic about harnessing the unique skills of its employees, and hopes to serve as a model for other autistic-focused businesses. Check out their Rising Tide U, which aims to “provide a road map for entrepreneurs who wish to start businesses that empower individuals with autism through gainful employment.”
ROSES FOR AUTISM
Located at Pinchbeck Rose Farm in Guilford, Connecticut, Roses for Autism employs autistic individuals in its inclusive workforce to grow, cut and package flowers for sale. Proceeds from their sales support their career training programs for adults and teens.
SEEDS FOR AUTISM
SEEDS [Success through Education, Exploration and Development] provides mentoring opportunities with professional artists, teaching artisan craftsmanship in woodworking, metal work, jewelry, ceramics, and sewing, as well as other vocational and entrepreneurial skills. Based in the Phoenix area, their online shop offers beautiful hand-crafted merchandise created by their clients.
SMILE BISCOTTI
Founded by autistic entrepreneur Matt Resnik, SMILE Biscotti (Supporting Matt’s Independent Living Enterprise) is a bakery that offers delicious biscotti at several stores in the Phoenix, AZ area as well as through their online store.
SPECTRUM DESIGNS FOUNDATION
With 75% of their employees on the autism spectrum, Spectrum Designs Foundation is well on its way to becoming a leader in job training and employment for teens and young adults. An employment initiative of the Nicholas Center for Autism in Port Washington, New York, SDF creates customized apparel and other products in what looks like an extremely fun and rewarding atmosphere.
TUCK’S TOOQUES
Seventeen-year-old Tuck is learning to operate a “Proautism microbusiness” selling cool Himalayan winter hats [and supporting the livelihood of Nepali artisans] while advocating for autistic self-employment, community involvement, and so much more. I couldn’t love this company more! Tuck’s Tooques (based in Michigan) can be purchased from their online store and at a growing number of outdoor retail stores. Tuck’s journey toward sustainable employment (with his dad) is very inspiring – check them out!
AND, THERE’S MORE….
There are so many businesses to list, it’s quite inspiring. Here are some others providing meaningful employment, internships, and/or vocational training for individuals with disabilities, including autistic employees:
- Aspire CoffeeWorks (Illinois)
- Bancroft Employment Enterprises (New Jersey)
- Believe in Abilities (North Carolina)
- Bitty and Beau’s Coffee (North Carolina)
- Dale Rogers Training Center (Oklahoma)
- Destination Desserts (St. Louis, Missouri)
- Gryphen Specialty Products and Services (Phoenix, pet supplies, and other contracted product assembly and services)
- Lamb’s Farm (Illinois)
- Lifestyles for the Disabled (Staten Island, New York)
- New Ventures (Georgia, vocational training and placement)
- Paper Clouds Apparel (Phoenix)
- Prospector Theater (Connecticut)
- Reid’s Gifts (California)
- Scentsability Candles (Florida)
- Special Tees (Staten Island, New York)
- Toward Independent Living and Learning, Inc. (Massachusetts)
- Two Café and Boutique (Ohio)
- Waggies by Maggie and Friends (Delaware)
- Wags in a Bag (St. Louis, Missouri)
- “Yard” Work and More (New Jersey)
More opportunities for job training, placement and recruitment:
- Exceptional Minds (School for Digital Animation and Visual Effects in Sherman Oaks, CA)
- Have Dreams (workplace training, after-school and day vocational programs for ASD adults in Chicago, Illinois)
- The Spectrum Careers (A jobs portal to match employers who hire individuals on the spectrum with prospective autistic employees. Job seekers can upload resumes and search for job postings.)
- Think Beyond the Label (Assisting employers in recruiting and hiring employees with disabilities)
If you know of a company that should be listed here, or catch a broken link, let me know!
[List updated 12-5-17]
Stay Quirky, my friends 
Check out Plantables (www.plantables.net)!! They are a worker-focused manufacturing business in Hudson, Wisconsin that make products that will beatify gardens and help the pollinators at the same time. They’re NOT a non-profit, they are a business. Check them out!!
Thanks so much for letting me know about Plantables! Looks like a great company – I’m way behind on updating this page, but will soon and give a shout out. Glad to hear about you!!