College of Adaptive Arts Celebrates National Disability Employment Awareness Month with New Workforce Development Programs

(Saratoga, Calif., October 10, 2023) With October being National Disability Employment Awareness Month, there is a heightened focus on the career access and opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

Historically, careers for people with I/DD have been limited to manual labor positions, such as bagging groceries or custodial work.

College of Adaptive Arts, a non-profit based in Saratoga, California, is aiming to change this with the belief that even though a person may have intellectual or developmental disabilities, he or she still can hold a job which require skill sets such as critical thinking, problem solving, and emotional awareness.

The State of California, along with Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), shares this belief, recently granting College of Adaptive Arts (CAA) over 2 million dollars in the 2023 state budget for these new workforce development initiatives.

The U.S. Department of Labor has also validated these new efforts by accrediting CAA’s newly formed apprenticeship program, which combine paid on-the-job training with classroom instruction to prepare workers for their careers.

“If we want adults with disabilities to realize their full potential, we need to invest in their futures,” said DeAnna Pursai, Executive Director and co-founder of College of Adaptive Arts. “Our mission has always been centered on lifelong learning, however we see such a large gap in what types of jobs are available for adults with I/DD. We want to open new doors by training our students in things like receptionist positions, teacher aides, and more.”

College of Adaptive Arts serves more than 225 adults with I/DD across 9 different states. It offers a mix of online learning and in-person classes, which take place on the campus of West Valley College. CAA offers 10 schools of instruction in things like Digital Media Studies, Communication, Business, and Visual Arts.  

The school so far has hired nine associate professors, one musical accompanist, and three interns from its student body. It also has hired four additional outside professors with recognized physical disabilities.

“Our vision is to empower our student body to creatively transform the way the world views individuals with disabilities,” said Pursai. “By recognizing and utilizing everyone’s unique abilities, we can truly build a better world.”The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ADAPTIVE ARTS:

College of Adaptive Arts is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing a lifelong, equitable collegiate experience to adults with special needs who historically have not had access to college education. The vision of CAA is to empower adults with special needs to creatively transform perception of disability. This is an institution of higher education where adults have opportunities to learn from a diverse and rich curriculum that will enable them to live a full and empowered life as successful, contributing members of the community. For more information, or to volunteer and/or donate visit https://www.collegeofadaptivearts.org/