Arthur “Artie” Bass is a 21-year-old Wilton man who, just like most young men, wants a career, to be independent and to earn a living. He plays checkers, loves to read, knits and enjoys gardening. He graduated Wilton High School in 2012 and is looking for a job. His dream job is to be a veterinary assistant. “I like working with animals, it’s what I always wanted to do,” he says.
But Artie has special needs–he has intellectual disabilities and processing disorder–and that seems to be a roadblock for anyone considering hiring him.
He has reached out to many, many area veterinary offices. “Sometimes they call back, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes people think of a person’s disabilities, that they’re not really good at what they say they can do, and they don’t look at what a person has accomplished. It doesn’t feel very good when that happens,” he says.
Artie’s family has helped by calling vet offices in just about every vet in Wilton and beyond–Norwalk, Danbury, Bethel and Ridgefield–to see if there was an opportunity for him. One office said, “We don’t hire people like that, because we have needles and medication here.” Only one–Quarry Ridge Animal Hospital in Ridgefield–was willing to give him a position to train with them over the last year.
He lives with his grandparents, Gloria and Bob Bass, who raised him. Gloria, describes how difficult and frustrating it has been for Artie to find work.
“I took him to the Georgetown Street Fair, because I knew there was opportunity in the area there. Immediately it was –[mimes putting up a hand to say, ‘stop’]– shut down. They had an opening–and then all of a sudden they didn’t. The response troubles me. That’s tough, because I know his capabilities, he’s efficient, he’s trustworthy, he’s a hard worker,” she says.
To try and improve his chances by reaching out to more people, Artie has created a website with the help of his family called “Hire Arthur Bass.” It includes Artie’s resume, descriptions of his work and personal experience, references from prior employers, Artie’s personal appeal letter and pictures of him at work with different animals.
His resume lists his work experience: in addition to working at Quarry Ridge, he spent a year and a half as an assistant with the Trumbull Mobile Vet and has volunteered at Cannondale Animal Clinic. He’s also been a farm assistant at a NY farm where he clipped the hooves of the goats and sheep and the claws of the farm’s chickens. (watch a video of him catch a chicken, below) Undoubtedly, that takes someone who has a way with animals, and who’s calm and able to handle animals comfortably. “You can’t be afraid,” Artie agrees.
But his experience isn’t limited to just working with animals. When he was in high school, he worked at The Greens in the kitchen, through a career practicum program at school. He’s completed the RISE program at Sacred Heart University, a transitional program for young adults with disabilities, which gave him experience on a university campus for social, recreational and vocational skill development. He has also got his vet assistant certification through Penn Foster on his own, putting a lot of work into the program and scoring mostly between 80-100 for each exam.
If he had the chance to talk to anyone considering hiring someone with special needs, he knows what he’d say: “That it’s not all about the disability. That someone with a disability can do just as much as someone without a disability.”
He also has a good idea of what his strengths are: “I listen to what people say when they tell me what to do. If you’re not listening, you won’t know exactly what they want done.”
His grandmother Gloria adds, “If I had an opportunity to hire kids with disabilities, I would. They show up for work on time, they’re not involved with teenaged drinking and drugging, Artie is able to get himself back and forth to work. He’s a really hard worker, his work ethics are incredible. He can figure out the bus routes better than I can. He travelled to Bridgeport and Trumbull for two years! He’s working with Wilton Continuing Education on his keyboarding skills, he’s proficient in all of the Microsoft office programs–Excel, Outlook, Word. He’s able to show me different shortcuts and techniques–it’s great that he can offer that.”
She wishes people were more open to hiring people with intellectual disabilities in general, and it only gets tougher as Artie gets older.
“They need to look past the disability and look at the person. The skills are there, they’re great people and they deserve the opportunity. They have life goals, the same as we all do; they have feelings–they know disappointment. I know I’m not the only parent in town who’s struggling with this. Some of the kids get very depressed–they see their friends working.”
While there are some state services that exist, Gloria says they’ve been ineffective. “They’ll put him in a ‘job’ stocking shelves, but they don’t look at what he wants to do.”
Gloria says that Artie has been criticized as being ‘narrow-minded’ because he’s focused on working with animals or as a veterinary assistant.
“It’s his love, it’s his passion. Why is that ‘narrow-minded’? If it was somebody else, say who graduated high school and went to college and only wanted to be an ER physician, that would be their dream. But for Artie, why is it different? He’s not stuck–it’s what he wants to do.”
It’s difficult for Gloria to watch and it’s difficult for Artie to live the experience, she says.
“As a grandparent, looking forward, we have to make him as ready as possible, so he can manage his life. We want to get him as independent as he can be, so he can have a life, support himself and do the things everybody else wants to do. He wants to work, he wants to support himself, he wants to take care of himself.”
To learn more about Artie, or to refer anyone who may be able to help, go to his website.
Wonderful story Good Morning Wilton!
Thanks Kevin!