ADA30 Spotlight - Jesse Millman

July 15, 2020

My son Jesse has developmental disabilities which impacts his expressive and receptive language processing and his comprehension skills. He is a part-time student at Iona College in Westchester County going for his BS degree in Finance and he also works part-time as an Investment Assistant at Clarfeld Financial Advisors in Tarrytown, NY. When he first began working there, his boss reached out to my husband Rob and myself due to concerns she had about Jesse's understanding of all the tasks being asked of him in his new position, and that in order to do the job fully he would need more guidance. Because of the ADA and the ability to accommodate for individuals with disabilities in the work environment, I asked his boss if it was ok for me to reach out to Jesse's vocational counselor at ACCES-VR (Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation) to see if we could have a job coach paid for through ACCES-VR to work with Jesse for several months in order to get him up to speed with the requirements of his job. Jesse's boss was very supportive of the suggestion and not only agreed to this, but also supported our efforts as it was a way to make the job more accessible for Jesse and thus allowing him to be successful at it. He had the job coach over the course of 3 months and it really made a difference. I am pleased to say that Jesse is now going on to nearly 2 years of a very successful job experience at Clarfeld!!!