Joel and Martha are planning a meaningful future for their 20-year-old son William, nonverbal but highly intelligent (spells to communicate), with autism and apraxia, body-control issues, and elopement—because typical programs don’t engage people like him.

They want purposeful work, social connection, graduated independence, community engagement, and flexible days mixing vocational, recreational, and social activities in environments that assume competence; major barriers are staffing, behavior support, funding, and sustainability, and they look to models like New Jersey’s We Make – Autism at Work and John 13 for balancing structured work, recreation, safety, and independence.