By Olivia Minnier

A young man excitedly opens the garage door at his home to go for a drive. He says goodbye to his mom, places the key into the ignition, and makes his way out of their winding driveway, off to try out a new restaurant.

Manny Kirkhart, a 22-year-old resident of Delaware, recently got his driver’s license in January and is excitedly embracing his newfound independence.

Manny has been getting services from DCBDD since the family moved to Delaware County from Franklin County when was 12 years old. He is currently enrolled in Aspirations with The Ohio State University, said Manny’s mother, Kay Kirkhart.

Aspirations Ohio was established in 2002 by the Nisonger Center and The Ohio State University’s Department of Neurology. The group-based support program focuses on social skills for teens and young adults ages 15-30 with autism spectrum disorder and their families.

Kay said the program has not only been incredibly beneficial for Manny, but for her as well.

“They break into two groups, one for the young adults and one for the families, and it’s been very informative on services that are available, you know for the kids. They’ve had employment recruiters from Microsoft come and talk, J.P. Morgan Chase, and another financial company. They talk about college programs, degree-seeking and non-degree seeking,” she said.

“We are in that first twelve-week program that you have to participate in to get to the other stuff and I just cannot believe how informative it really is,” she said. “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”

She said Manny is also participating in job coaching from Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities or OOD who is supporting Manny at his job with Zoombezi Bay.

“Someone from OOD shows up about once a week and checks on him and sees how he’s doing,” she said.

While Manny continues planning and figuring out what he would like to pursue as a career, he is excited about being able to drive on his own and goes out to eat every Friday in Powell.
He said he passed his driving exam on the first try and thought the permit test was harder than the driving test. He currently does not have his own car but uses his parents’ vehicles.

“It just took me that day and I didn’t know it would be that easy,” he said.

He is excited to continue working this summer as a ticket collector and driving to work on his own for the first time. He has also been able to start driving himself to hockey practices and baseball practices since he has gotten his license.
Kay said the best part about all of Manny’s recent developments has been seeing him gain more maturity and work with the future in mind.

“He becomes more and more mature every day. His responsibilities and his understanding of how important it is to keep his job and his communication at work. I think he has a lot of respect at work, I think they look out for him. Manny has been very good at developing relationships, that is something he struggled with as a young teenager, and that has developed over time,” she said.