The School of Social Work hosted LAUNCH USF, a long-time leader in transition and employment services for adults on the autistic spectrum, during a session of the Health, Illness and Disabilities course.
Isabella Mariani, who did not receive a formal autism specturm disorder (ASD) diagnosis until the age of 16, is now a young adult attending LAUNCH Academy while taking classes in their major at USF. They spoke with the second-year Master of Social Work (MSW) students about their lived experience with ASD.
"It was really neat to hear from an individual with ASD navigating various parts of their life," said Jennifer Roth, MSW, assistant instructor in the School of Social Work and one of the instructors of the course.
Allison Corwin, MSW, a recent graduate of the Master of Social Work program and current LAUNCH Academy instructor, also spoke with the social work students about the LAUNCH Program.
Along with Roth, John Rutledge, MSW, assistant instructor in the School of Social Work and Heather Walders, MSW, MPH, adjunct instructor in the School of Social Work and assistant director of outreach and community engagement at the USF Counseling Center, welcomed the guest speakers to their classes to share with social work students insights on programming and the young adult population living with ASD.