I found out about Aspiritech through my mom, as we were running a support group for people on the spectrum, and my mom was collecting a lot of resources. I originally started working for Aspiritech in 2013 as a Software Tester, now called a QA Analyst, after having participated in one of their team building programs.
Stepping Up and Out (SUO) is a club at Aspiritech that is mainly for adults on the Autism spectrum. Club meetings, in non-covid times, would usually meet at the Aspiritech office and there’d be some sort of activity or field trip.
Today I serve as the SUO coordinator but first started assisting with the program.
While Covid has impacted the activities we do, we still have been able to meet virtually. As coordinator, I’ve evolved with the changes, added more programming, adapted existing programming to a virtual environment, and even found places that offer virtual experiences, such as a film fest, an escape room, and a museum tour. I have also teamed up with a few employees to create a VR game night on Twitch.
As someone who is on the Autism spectrum myself, I’m attuned to the wants and needs of the community and its members. For a long time, I’ve felt that it was important for people on the spectrum to have access to social, educational, and vocational programming targeted to them, so I have a commitment to providing these opportunities. I also like to think I’m pretty good at planning fun events and activities, that participants find value in and enjoy.
As we hopefully will be able to return to in-person meetings soon, I hope to continue to grow the program and add even more events and activities and increase participation among staff and the larger community. We’ve been able to go from having programming once a week, to being able to offer programming nearly seven days a week, and we want to continue to expand.
