Changing Careers: Using my story to help job seekers and employers – by A’Shanuntae Nious
Hi, my name is A’shauntae. I have two sisters and one brother. On my dad’s side I have three brothers and am the only girl. I’m an aunt of 4 nephews and two nieces. I love to go to church. I love to sing and my favorite color is pink.
I graduated from Armstrong high School in June 2016 with a special diploma. Before graduating I had an IEP meeting to set up for transition after high school. The transition that was discussed in my IEP meeting was that I do another year to get a modified diploma or go to the technical training school. I didn’t want to do either one. That was when my guidance counselor discussed in my IEP meeting the VCU ACE-IT In College Program– an inclusive postsecondary program for individuals with intellectual disabilities. I was so excited when I found information about a program, and that you could go to college and complete different classes that fit your career and also to have employment after you graduate. I was accepted in the ACE-IT in College program in Aug 2017. After I completed my 4 semesters, I graduated in May 2019.
Right now, I am helping a Partnership for People with Disabilities’ program called Project PEACE. I advocate to get more employers to hire people with intellectual disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities deserve a chance to work. I want to train places of work on what people with disabilities are capable of.
I have had many jobs at VCU and in the community. I recently changed careers, and I want to share about my job and how I got it because people need to know that people with disabilities also change careers. This is my story and my advice.
Keeping kids safe and healthy
I’m a play guide [at the Richmond Children’s Museum] And the description of the job is that the play guide basically picks up toys, wipes the toys down, reset the toys, puts them back where they are supposed to go. We keep the germs down to keep the other kids from getting sick. The kids will put the toys in their mouths and the parents will put the toys in a red basket. The then manager will take the basket into the back to deep clean the toys. We do keep a radio on us. A lot of times we have kids that do separate from their parent. We’ll say on the radio, “child is separated from their parent.” We’ll describe what that child looks like– what they have on. Once you find a child, we’ll say, “child is united with their parent.”
Getting my job at the Richmond Children’s Museum
This is actually a job I found that my own. I went on the website on the Children’s Museum and I seen that all I had to do was send my resume to the Children’s Museum and the HR person. We did a phone interview and basically she asked me questions. She said, “we’ll train you and show you what to do on the job.” I didn’t know what was going to happen after that. That’s when she emailed me the next week and was like, “both of my managers wanna meet up with you for a face-to-face interview.” I was real happy and excited. So, I went to the interview. I let them know that I wanted an experience with trying something different. After the interview, I didn’t know what was going to happen. After the interview they sent an email that said, “Congratulations, A’Shauntae! Welcome to the Children’s Museum.” I was so excited and happy. Not only that, they told me how they have experience with other people who ride the CARE van and that made me feel 100% better. Not only that, they are already familiar with job coaches and not only that but two people at my job that I work with also have a disability, so that made me feel more comfortable and more happier to know this is finally the job that is best for me.
Advice for Employers
You never know what a person is capable of doing. Even though I didn’t have experience working with children or in retail, they [The Children’s Museum of Richmond] still gave me a fair shot and hired me and actually trained me and showed me what I would actually do on the job. I feel that is what other employers should do– let the person actually get the training and see how they do. They should get more involved to learn more about persons with job coaches.
Advice for Career Changers with Disabilities
I would say try it out and see how you like it because you never know until you actually wanna be interested in doing it. For example, I already was interested in working with kids because I have nieces and nephews so I already see myself having my own daycare soon. But just seeing myself working in general with kids, it was just something different. So not only that they should connect with their DARS counselor to do an assessment. Say, “Hey is there any way I can do an assessment?” and they’ll connect with them. The jobs may say that I dont think this is the kind of fit for you. Still advocate for yourself and say, “I still want to try this assessment out and see if I would like to do this for real as a job.” I had to advocate with my job coach. I would [also] ask your family to ask around [about jobs], because they could have a coworker or someone whose job could be hiring and they could give you an application or some contact information. The community has good resources. Virginia Workforce Center– they’re really good. They’ll actually help you with other careers and what you want to do.
Categories ACE-IT in College Program, Disabilities, Education, Jobs and Careers