Starting something has to come from the private sector. To work it has to answer problems as seen by the general population, before it can attract private funding.
Autism Speaks. There are a lot of autistic children, with families, that feel nothing is being done. It was true, so starting a non profit, they did attract first those seeking more information, parents, then those who could donate the $25 million startup capital. Since then they have brought in donations from a broad base, from small private, to corporate.
The payback to the general public is in more access to information, for free, and research that has advanced mostly Genetic Study, but also Behavior. One answers the current lack of knowledge, the other applies directly to parents coping with autistic children. They have become a lead agency in Grants, as Autism Speaks partial funding of a grant application means it has been checked for the potential to produce new knowledge, and government agencys will follow along and add to the grant.
Private, with $50 million a year, they perhaps direct $500 million in targeted research. Their science staff has credibility that allows other grants to not have to do the study needed to direct funding. They filled the position of Lead Agency.
The idea of autistic communities has surfaced here for years. This has been from the autistic point of view. A popular concept, but lacking the organization needed. Also an excluded minority with strange ways lacks the knowledge and capital to even set up a small business.
Recently the, lets study the problem first group, Autism Speaks et al, has come to something of the same idea, hundreds of thousands of the children they focused on are growing up, and there is no place in the world for them. Most are supported by parents, that will not last forever.
The potential public costs are huge. Disability payments are not enough, supported living costs several times that.
It will take a private plan, and it must be lead from the autistic point of view, they are the ones who will live there. It must also include everything, education, employment, and it will take a minority of NTs to keep it running. Over all, the lifetime problem of about a million people.
Before a plan for a million can evolve, small models must be tested.
The need is real, is supported by parents, Autism Speaks, the Government, as service provider, and each has their views.
Parents want a secure future for their child. Autism Speaks has avoided providing direct services until they had a better idea of needs, and how to meet them. Government sees costs, something that will cost more than Afganistan, running forever.
Together, the program has to be sold to the tax payers. Their only view is if it reduces costs. Autism can be shown to cost Billions a year. Besides that, the loss of economic production is more billions.
Employment is the answer, jobs will be produced for hundreds of thousands of NTs. That is currently popular. A million people who are currently non productive could be doing something. Even minor economic activity, a few thousand a year, is billions added to the economy.
Needs vary. Some have no support, have had to make their own living, have been marginally productive, and could be made more productive. Others have always been supported and currently produce nothing, but could in a better world, and some will need lifetime services.
Abilities vary. Some work, some would, and others cannot.
Most parents think that warehoused in an institution is the worst outcome. It is also the most expensive. They want the best life for their child. Supported living, Group Homes, also comes with a loss of freedoms, and being kept as an old child. Sheltered Workshops rarely develop workers, it is just a social activity.
Everyone involved seeks the highest potential. The current system is the best NTs can do, which makes it alien to autistics.
Autistic Community is possible, check Wrong Planet, and needed for any plan to gain broad autistic acceptance. It also has to meet parents, lead agencies, and government standards.
The place to start is in what works. Capitalism, job production, and with a team of more functional autistics and NTs. No startup is profitable, but it has to have the potential to be, and a model that can expand.
It has to reach into both worlds, no one place can ever meet the overall need. That would take a thousand fanchises each meeting the needs of a thousand people.
I have been working on a plan, It is a rural thousand person village, with time zones. Some would be happy living a few hundred years ago. Land based with food production being the main activity. Great for living, but connected to the modern world for other services.
Others are more process oriented, grinding the grain and making bread. Working wood, being the blacksmith, weaving, for we all need food, clothing, shelter.
A village can supply general needs within walking distance, a public square, with tea shop, a market, and services for export. Country crafts, as the Shakers, Arts and Crafts, and the Cottage Crafts of Scotland show can be very profitable in the modern era. Quilts and hand woven blankets sell, Bespoke Tweed jackets are half a blanket, and expensive used. A traditional Hacking jacket would sell to the horse set.
There are small but expensive markets that are not being supplied.
Following the talents of the people, you do not have to live in Silicon Valley to write computer code.
What we have is a labor surplus, in a machine era, where labor intensive goods are expensive. Our goods can contain more human labor than any other brand. Dying crafts like the bent wood, canvas covered canoe can be revived. As an industrial base, we do not have to consider labor costs.
There are skills that take years to master, we have time.
It is not a business, it is a social plan that includes many small services that make a whole. It has a thousand places to hide, or start an industry. You can do nothing, or take walks, perhaps go to the village. A cobbler with a thousand customers is well off. It is out of the world and at the center.
I get the book store, I write, publish, print, bind, and can supply about 100,000 public domain works. 1% of the general population are readers, that is much higher in the autistic community.
We can have a better world, if we build it.
23 Aug 2011, 3:16 pm
The advantage with starting with a school is that you can get funding from parents and the government, as well as supporters. As I planned before, it would be very well equipped, with facilities (for example the Library) that could later be shared with the wider community.
