WASHINGTON — When Cody Clark was a toddler, doctors envisioned a life for him that looked nothing like the one he leads today, he said.
“In spite of being diagnosed with autism at 15 months young, and my parents being warned by doctors I’d never walk, talk or hold down any sort of job, I do all three every day,” said Clark.
Clark, of Louisville, is now a small business owner, magician and motivational speaker.
His audiences have included students and corporate leaders, but on Tuesday morning, they were members of Congress.
Clark’s testimony at a hearing on business opportunities for people with disabilities ended with a bit of magic, delighting members of both parties on another day of deep partisan divisions on Capitol Hill.
“By enabling people with disabilities to become self-employed, if that’s their goal, we can take the blank check that we know as American life,” he said, holding up a check.
“And as our founding fathers have said all the time, we can help people with disabilities have life, liberty and full pursuit of happiness,” Clark concluded, producing a scarf printed as a $100 bill, to applause.
The House small business subcommittee hearing explored the challenges facing entrepreneurs and employees with disabilities.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville is a Democrat on the subcommittee.
“We need to make it easier for Americans with disabilities to enter the labor force and launch small businesses,” McGarvey said. “We can do this by improving the public programs that serve them and implementing policies that make work and entrepreneurship more accessible through accommodations and tackling ableism.”
Clark said programs which serve people with disabilities should include self-employment as an option.
“A major issue I've noticed is that [Pre-Employment Transition Services], vocational rehabilitation and other programs of this nature are structured to support wage employment over other employment options, which I feel is shortsighted, because according to the Department of Labor, people with disabilities are self-employed at a higher rate than the rest of the population,” Clark said.
In 2022, only 21% of people with disabilities including autism were employed, according to Keith Wargo, president of the organization Autism Speaks.
He encouraged businesses looking to reduce barriers to consider changing their hiring procedures to include alternatives to interviews and create more accessible work places.