When St. Louis native Clayton Meuret first heard about the Thompson Center’s STRIVE program, he didn’t quite know what to make of it. Which isn’t a surprise; he was still very new to the idea of living on the autism spectrum. Clayton wasn’t diagnosed with ASD until he was 20 years old, much later in life than most of his peers on the spectrum.
“My lack of an early diagnosis really denied me the opportunity to receive help and resources growing up,” Clayton said.
The STRIVE program is a year-long job preparation program on the University of Missouri campus aimed at preparing young adults on the autism spectrum to begin life in the workforce.
Clayton, who already was a student at Mizzou, wasn’t sure if the program was something worth pursuing, but decided to take the leap with some guidance from his father.
“My dad said it was the last chance I would get to receive help for my condition before it would grant me labels that would impair my image later on in life,” Clayton said.
Unsure of what STRIVE would bring, Clayton made the decision to go for it.
“At first, I was a little embarrassed to be in the program,” Clayton said. “At times, I found myself thinking ‘I don’t belong here’. I convinced myself at times that I was too ‘high-functioning’ to be in such a program.”
“As time went on, however, I began to deconstruct that mindset. I began to like the program when I learned about the Theory of Mind and began to bond with my classmates once I realized that nobody was secretly out to “get me”. My old schema always assumed that everyone had ulterior motives that involved taking advantage of me.”
The STRIVE program consists of three primary components: weekly classroom instruction, a peer mentor who is a typically developing Mizzou student, and an internship opportunity with a local business or institution.
Because Clayton currently is pursuing a master’s degree in accountancy, he was able to secure an internship at the central accounting office at Mizzou.
He credits both this internship opportunity as well as the valuable classroom interaction with the instructors and his STRIVE classmates for preparing him greatly for the post-graduate world.
“The support I got from my classmates and my instructors was the best part of the program. I often had the bad habit of using my close companions to vent all of my problems and emotional pain. They both made it clear that they wouldn’t have it, and not enabling me was the most constructive thing they’ve ever done for me.”
Freshly graduated from STRIVE, Clayton has grand plans to complete is graduate degree in accountancy, earn his CPA license and secure a job at either a large accounting firm or a smaller CPA firm. Grand plans that he attributes to his STRIVE preparation.
“I believe that STRIVE has done an excellent job at propelling me towards this goal,” Clayton said. “I didn’t think that this program was at my level when I came in, but the program has helped me in ways that I would never have dreamed it would.”
The STRIVE program runs throughout the academic school year and is currently accepting applications for young adults with autism for the 2019-2020 year. For more information about STRIVE, visit: https://thompsoncenter.missouri.edu/autism-training/strive/.