BROADCASTS.com

b'IFUNANYA \\u201cNODDY\\u201d NWEKE is the founder and executive director of Jazz Hands for Autism (JHFA). The non-profit organization provides platforms for musically inclined individuals on the autism spectrum to explore and express their talent, and helps many of its gifted musicians find steady paying gigs.\\xa0(35:27) \\xa0 \\xa0 EPISODE NOTES: There\\u2019s no choosing the talents any one of us are born with \\u2013 nor the challenges. I would love to have a natural talent for music. I don\\u2019t. But I also don\\u2019t have autism. IFUNANYA NWEKE knows plenty of people who have both.\\xa0Ifunanya is the founder and executive director of JAZZ HANDS FOR AUTISM (JHFA), a non-profit organization that provides platforms and seeks avenues for musically inclined individuals who are on the autism spectrum to explore and express their talent. As she tells me on her PIERSON TO PERSON episode THE BEAT OF A DIFFERENT DRUM: \\u201cMusic is processed differently than speech. It\\u2019s processed using almost every single structure in the brain. That kind of processing helps bypass many different challenges that people with autism have. There are people with autism who can sing, but cannot speak. That\\u2019s amazing to me.\\u201d Ifunanya (known to friends and colleagues as Noddy) was born in Nigeria and studied anthropology at UCLA with an emphasis in psychology. She went on to become one of the first graduates of USC\\u2019s Master of Nonprofit Leadership and Management program. Add to that\\xa0Ifunanya\\u2019s background as a musician, a vocal and piano coach for young children with autism and an ABA trained behavior interventionist and it\\u2019s not hard to see how she might create an organization like JHFA. But WHY\\xa0did she do it? Her answer was matter-of-fact: \\u201cRuben.\\u201d Ifunanya first met Ruben J. while observing a mainstream high school music class \\u2013 he was the only autistic student in the class. Just 15 at the time, Ifunanya was blown away by his singing and piano playing abilities (he also plays drums, guitar, and trumpet). \\u201cIn that moment I was like, Why is there no place where he can really express this often? Why is there no place he can go and just be Ruben in his musical essence? And so, from that day, I started drafting a preliminary program.\\u201d In addition to its regular concert series, JHFA offers autistic musicians a comprehensive job training program to help them become contributing members of society by using their talents and newfound skills to land jobs as working musicians. \\u201cThey\\u2019re learning how to be better performers, learning how to make eye-contact, how to be aware of what their bodies are doing on stage, and learning how to interact with their audience.\\u201d They also receive valuable work readiness training. \\u201cNot only do you have to be a good performer, you also have to know how to get there on time and how to dress for that setting.\\u201d But JHFA\\u2019s approach is more than theoretical \\u2013 there\\u2019s a job placement piece to it, as well. \\u201cWe\\u2019re going out and really helping them find gigs in the community where they\\u2019re performing and making money. Our goal is to find them consistent work, like being a session musician, playing at retirement homes, or playing at a church. Playing at a church is one of the most consistent gigs there is.\\u201d I recently sat in on one of JHFA\\u2019s Saturday afternoon jam sessions and had the pleasure of meeting both Ruben J. and his mother, Lili. I asked her what the program has meant for her son: \\u201cMeeting Noddy was a godsend. She\\u2019s provided a platform for him to express what comes naturally to him. It\\u2019s in his wheelhouse. What a wonderful gift it\\u2019s been that there\\u2019s one area in his life where he feels really confident. And he\\u2019s able to express that in a way that seems natural to him. He feels good about himself. He feels successful. As a parent, that\\u2019s what we all want for our children.\\u201d BP'