Tom D'Eri wanted to help his brother, Andrew, who had been diagnosed with autism as a young child. As Andrew approached the age of of 22 years old, Tom felt he
needed to step up support for his brother:
At the time, they lived in the greater New York City area, as did Andrew (who resided with his mother, Donna D’Eri). Andrew was approaching the age of 22, a milestone known in the autism community as “falling off the cliff,” a term derived from the fact that virtually all government support expires when an individual with autism reaches what is typically college-graduate age. Faced with extremely limited employment opportunities, many of these individuals stay at home and begin to regress because they have little in the way of meaningful activities.
Knowing autistic adults have a 90% unemployment rate, the D'Eri family set out to start a business that would make a difference. The
Rising Tide Car Wash in Parkland, Florida was soon up and running, primarily staffed by autistic adults—who the D'Eri's say show special attention to details others may miss:
Rising Tide is a scalable conveyorized car wash dedicated to the empowerment of individuals with autism. Each Rising Tide location will have high exposure in the community and provide employment for people with autism through easy to learn, process driven labor. Rising Tide will have strong enough profitability to support a community of people with autism through living wages, career advancement opportunities and independent living skills and self-advocacy training.
Watch their inspirational story here:
The car wash has been so successful, they are considering franchising. So, keep an eye out for the Rising Tide near you!