{"id":275931,"date":"2026-05-19T00:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275931\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T00:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:49:10","slug":"overcoming-developmental-disabilities-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275931\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming developmental disabilities in the workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Finding a job can be difficult for anyone, but for many people with developmental disabilities, the barriers can be even greater.<\/p>\n<p>According to the National Core Indicators Report, <a href=\"https:\/\/idd.nationalcoreindicators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IPS-24-25-02-Employment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">83%<\/a> of people with developmental disabilities are unemployed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/questinc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Quest, Inc.<\/a>, a Central Florida non-profit is working to change that by helping connect people with disabilities to training, support and meaningful employment opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>On any given day, 23-year-old Valerie Visser can be found stocking shelves at the gift shop inside Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>For Visser, having a job means far more than just a paycheck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI get to interact with all the guests here, and I love to stock stuff,\u201d said Visser.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in Central Florida was not always easy for her. Visser, who has developmental disabilities, said she struggled in school and was even held back in kindergarten.<\/p>\n<p>She says classmates often bullied her because she was different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would get made fun of. I would get bullied by other classmates. That was really hard on me,\u201d said Visser.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, even everyday tasks like counting change felt overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike nickels and dimes. That\u2019s very hard for me. And I have some people help me with counting them. Like my life coach, my mom, my dad. My coworkers helped me too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Jesse Buxton, director of Employment for Quest, says many of the people they help face developmental or neurological challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have autism, Asperger\u2019s, neurological type impairments,\u201d said Buxton.<\/p>\n<p>Quest, a non-profit organization serving Central Florida for 60 years, launched its employment program six years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the organization has helped 71 clients with disabilities find jobs. Buxton says the organization supports clients throughout the entire employment process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe help them with creating their resume, job searching, and also applying for jobs. And we\u2019ll be there for the interview if needed. We\u2019ll also be there when they get a job for training, orientation and support as needed,\u201d said Buxton.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Disability Exchange, <a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityexchange.org\/states\/florida\/orange-county\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">160,460 residents<\/a>\u00a0are living with at least one disability.<\/p>\n<p>Quest partners with employers like Rosen Hotels &amp; Resorts to help create opportunities for those individuals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, you know, just like anyone else, if they\u2019re given the tools, the support, and the job coaches, they can get the job done just as well as anyone else can,\u201d said Michael Cano, HR Project manager for Rosen Hotels &amp; Resorts.<\/p>\n<p>For Visser, having the opportunity to work has helped build confidence, independence and purpose \u2014 while also helping break the stigma surrounding developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Finding a job can be difficult for anyone, but for many people with developmental disabilities, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3076,1011,274,1548,1190,115,139,141,140,11881,278,835],"class_list":["post-275931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-good-news","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-top-stories","tag-good-news","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-randy-rauch","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}