Attn: Audrey Todd,PhD

Food for Good Thought

4185 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43214

The nature of my complaint is:

1. Joanna began by about our third week to speak to me as if she were constantly annoyed with me
and this continued throughout the duration of our settings.
2. Joanna did not treat me like a adult, she spoke to me as if I were a child.
3. She was condescending and impatient.
4. She was more of a bureaucrat than a teacher or coach.
5. She lacked the skill sets I needed in a coach.
6. She refused to acknowledge the nature of my disability and was dismissive when I referenced
areas of deficit but was as equally dismissive of areas of strength.
7. Compromise was always one -sided on my part not hers and was never acknowledged.
8. Joanna misrepresented facts about me to others.
9. Joanna and Sarah may have violated my rights under the federal HIPAA. (Medical privacy).
While HIPAA allows access based on a need to know and minimum necessary in order for a
person to due their job I don't believe that when a person believes that their information has
been passed from a Program Director (Sarah Duplessis) on to a job coach/facilitator (I don't
know Joanna's full title or spelling of her legal name) that the law was intended for such persons
to use that any time they want and in a defaming manner and to speak so casually without
regards to consideration for my dignity and right to privacy.
I believe my rights were violated under the state ORC, Sec 5123.62 (A), (G), (H), (L), (M), (O),
(P), (Q), ( R ), (T), (U).
10. JoAnna's other duties such as baby sitting Ms. Todd's son seemed to preoccupy her mind even
when with me and seemed a conflict of interest.
11. Joanna put herself in a position of power in order to foster my dependence on her which runs
counter to the purpose and goals set with OOD.
12. Joanna would not refer to any of my goals that I outlined with OOD and would only reference
her goals which again ran counter to my needs based on my areas of exceptionality.
13. At no point was I given a job either at Food for Good Thought or at any agency. I was led to
believe when I signed with FFGT that they had community connections and that I would get
paid employment. (Background I waited more then four years for OOD to link me with a job
and had counselor after counselor make promises and then quit; and last year I finally was
linked with one other service provider Functional Training Services who after getting my
personnel information never contacted me again).

Specific Examples pertaining to above list (these may pertain to more then
one above mentioned complaint and may not be in order):
1. She wouldn't reference any of my accomplishments not the ones I achieved in middle and high
school that got me both local, state, and national attention or the ones I achieved while in this
program because they were due to my efforts not hers. This meant she could not help with job
searches as she didn't know me as a client.

2.
3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

She took the information garnered from conversations between myself and Sarah and myself
and her then she wrote my resume. It was very bare bones and did not reflect the scope of
personal triumphs. It was very blah and didn't help others to know me.
She would cite during her condescending speeches I taught you how to create a resume.
She never worked with me on this she did it for me and was pleased with her accomplishment
not mine. She would speak to me as if I weren't capable with guidance of creating a document
to reflect my experiences in the community. This was highly insulting given I have a penchant
for creating original content especially in writing!
I appreciated the transportation at first as transportation was listed as one of the areas that I
needed help in. Yet because she drove me this didn't give me skill sets. Typically, Joanna would
pick me up at my home and drive me to businesses but we never met with any specific persons
of interest such as the hiring managers and Joanna never advocated for me by asking is the
hiring manager in, can we speak with her? Etc, this was often just a quick stop and grab an
application to be completed at FFGT or sometimes I was told I needed to complete them myself
at home, and then we would return to drop completed applications off. However when I signed
with OOD four years ago I was told the state would give me money for transportation training,
- how to use COTA and would furnish a bus pass and in some situations had linked clients with
drivers ed. and helped them get cars through other agencies. This will be crucial in two years
because I will be attending Otterbein College. Again since she never rode on a bus with me she
has no idea how I would do with navigating unfamiliar routes (Anxiety disorder). Also we put
in applications at sites that would require multiple bus transfers and I believe addressing
transportation as a skill should have logically come first since even if I got a position I might
still not be able to navigate my way through the city without transportation being resolved.
Finally her role in supplying rides was later used as a foul against me (more explanation to
follow).
Joanna drove me to one job fair where I applied for positions. She would always reference this
as see I taught you interview skills. I strongly disagree. She never sat down with me and
modeled interview skills. She never filmed me rehearsing a mock interview so there was
nothing for me to review and use as a future tool. Whenever I brought this up with her or with
Sarah I was told Oh, don't worry there will be people in college who will help you with
this.Even if this is true, it begs the question then why do I need you? Again if you didn't know
that acting is a strength of mine or you place no value on this skill set as a trade then you
wouldn't be capable of using it to teach me. Again if she referenced my disability as a person
with Aspergers she would know I have to rehearse all social skills. Either Joanna
misrepresented her abilities to work with the Asperger's community or Food for Good Thought
did.
Joanna was dismissive, condescending, rude, and unprofessional when I tried to reference
my goals and my needs based on my areas of medically recognized weaknesses which include:
time management skills, organization, remembering details and transference from short term to
long term memory, difficulty working with schedules and calenders. Joanna kept inferring I was
lazy, unmotivated, not trying, and not making an effort. She said I needed to step up the
effort. As a point of reference Joanna set a goal for me that I was to independently apply
(this is a contradiction how can I achieve independence if others are determining what
constitutes independence for me) for two positions per week but without the transportation issue
resolved I was running out of accessible employment and had reached a saturation of resumes
in a geographic area very quickly.
Compromises that I believed I made that were never acknowledged: letting Joanna drive me to
businesses to apply for jobs rather than Joanna accompanying me on the bus or meeting me
there, just putting in applications after applications rather then working on skill sets or matching

me with a community partner, or allowing me to get job skills at the FFGT bakery, putting up
with Joanna's sham resume, ignoring her insulting tone for as long as possible, applying for jobs
that did not compliment my aptitude or gender or interests (such as applying at hardware
stores), applying for jobs that were referred to as being against my best medical interest when
OOD did my job profile I was told food service work would not be pushed or pursued due to
my Body Dismorphic Disorder and binge eating, and depression for fear it would set off the
cycle of eating disorders again and yet Joanna kept pushing me in this direction this was
unimaginative and a one size fits all mentality.
8. At our very first meeting (with Joanna, as Sarah did my intake and Ms. Todd had years earlier
evaluated me) when discussing goals Joanna started immediately pushing that I should
independently apply for positions; this was off putting because I have been doing this
without success since I was sixteen and never knew why employers wouldn't hire me. This is
why I applied to OOD and was looking forward to my experiences at FFGT so I could get help
polishing my skills with someone who allegedly would know what obstacles I would face in an
interview. When Joanna started pushing this I compromised and said I would try one
application per week but no that wasn't good enough Joanna wrote down two even though I
never believed I agreed to this. She later misrepresented this to OOD as an agreed upon
stated goal. She also cited this to OOD as proof that I wasn't trying. She failed to mention
that I became so frustrated with her lack of connecting me with community work opportunities
that both myself and my family started asking around for employment opportunities and when
my mom heard of an internship that was opening up I jumped on this lead and followed through
and have been doing this to get employment skills. However this upset Joanna and was
construed as an unwillingness to do paid work. I would love to have paid work as I would
love to feel I had mastered an expected goal toward independence but I took unpaid training
that could lead to a possible entrepreneur enterprise (I am a Theatre major and graduated from a
performing arts school while my focus had been acting I have also had an interest in costuming
and took an intern position to learn sewing and design skills). This strengthens areas of deficit
fine motor skills and concentration. I am able to do this because my facilitator works with me
one on one but with more mastery I could work independently but would need help to market
myself. This leads to another problem my former OOD counselor Keri kept saying and
Joanna parroted this that everyone has to start at the bottom (meaning fast food or service
low wage jobs).This is false! I have spent over eight years developing speaking skills, I have
two years of internship in a Theatre program so I have public skills that many never master, and
I spent four years developing leadership skills in community activism, and recent research has
shown persons with Aspergers can often succeed running their own businesses if they hire out
all the areas where they and I have deficits. I could be a future entrepreneur and yet I have never
been matched with people who teach start up business skills or matched with start up funding. I
felt Joanna was very snide in her comments when I mentioned my areas of skill and
seemed eager to suggest I could develop this elsewhere. If that is the case then what is the
purpose of this program? I ask again what is the purpose of this program? Who does it serve?
With Joanna and Sarah's feedback to this latest OOD counselor Brooke Parr, they basically told
me that I couldn't expect to go to college if I couldn't maintain a planner, or calendar or
use an app on my phone to do this. Again where did these three women get their background
or professional skills dealing with Aspergers? I was never able to do this at school and I don't
expect I ever will master these areas. These areas of weakness are well recorded over four years
with OOD. So why I am here? Beyond the insult I have the intellectual aptitude to achieve a
PhD; no one tells Stephen Hawking he can't be a brilliant physicist because he needs help with
areas of disability so an agency that bills itself as being 'the agency' to work to help connect
Aspergers individuals with employment should be familiar with Asperger as a requirement to be

an effective service provider.

9. Refer to my complaint and to ORC, Sec 5123.62 which a copy was given to me at my intake
with Sarah. Part of my complaint is that I was led to believe that Sarah would do my intake
only and Joanna was the one to coach me and yet I frequently discovered that Joanna
would discuss me with Sarah but not in an advisory kind of role but in a very personally
defaming and gossipy kind of way. I know this because Sarah would just assert herself into a
conversation between myself and Joanna and would be there to circle the wagons in Joanna's
defense and as a point of high lighting my failings. I had this same experience when meeting
OOD Brooke Parr who immediately was telling me about my failings based on reports
with Joanna and Sarah even though she had never independently met with me to get my
perceptions of what was going on at FFGT thus tainting any professional relationship I
might have hoped to develop with Ms. Parr. (I am going to file a separate complaint with
OOD regarding Ms. Parr).
10. Other unprofessional and conflicting ethical concerns: It was very distracting meeting at FFGT
as Joanna was always preoccupied with other business concerns in the store or discussing
concerns with other clients with Sarah. Refer to ORC, Sec 5123.62 (H) Privacy.
When I met Ms. Parr from OOD for the first time at FFGT Joanna immediately launched into
this discussion of my failure to meet the quota of independently putting in two applications per
week from the start of my service; again my point of view was never elicited. This was my first
meeting with yet a new OOD counselor and it began on a negative. Refer to OCR, Sec 5123.62
(H), and (I) . My belief is that I had a right to be provided a place of privacy to speak one on
one (right to communicate freely) with a new OOD Rehabilitation Counselor Ms. Brooke Parr
to address allegations.
When I attended my second meeting with Joanna and Ms.Parr I had no idea the nature of this
meeting and thought it was simply to update me on new options. I learned that was not the case.
My second meeting with Joanna and Ms. Parr concluded with them telling me that they had
reached a conclusion that I could not pursue and maintain employment while attending college
and so my services were being suspended. Had I known the nature of this meeting I would have
requested the presence of an outside witness, family member or possibly legal counsel. I felt so
personally attacked and that the relationship with Joanna had become so poisonous that I
relented and agreed. However if I had been given the professional services that were touted as
being available through FFGT I would not have signed that suspension. Had I also
independently formed a relationship with Ms. Parr outside FFGT I feel my point of view would
have been better appreciated. ORC, Sec 5123.62 (A) Dignity, (F) Right to necessary ancillary
services which I believe could or should include a legal advocate. ORC, Sec 5123.62 (L) access
to opportunities that enable individuals to develop their full human potential; (M) The right to
pursue vocational opportunities that will promote and enhance economic independence.
Joanna and Ms. Parr both stated that by taking an internship and by going to college that I was
not in direct compliance with the goals of OOD (I request a copy of this in writing from FFGT
and OOD) but when I first signed with OOD I was told independence included such things as
educational progress, transportation, securing housing (which has not been mentioned in four
years by OOD, and getting help with organizational skills in the home that facilitated self
reliance (this hasn't been addressed in four years). ORC, Sec 5123.62 (L), and (M).
- what seems more accurate is that the funding for Joanna's services was being put in jeopardy
which is as it should be when an agency promises work experience and fails to make that

happen taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for such waste but this has to do with FFGT not
meeting their stated goals and obligations not with a lack of effort on my part. ORC, Sec
5123.62 (A), (H), (I), (L), (M).
In the meetings with Joanna and Ms. Parr Joanna cited as evidence that services should be
suspended that I had missed two meetings this part is true, however Joanna launched into a
slanderous tirade about how on the first canceled meeting she had sat in front of my house for
twenty minutes waiting for me to come out and then drove off (she never called the multiple
phones numbers provided or thought to get out of her car to ring the doorbell). I was at that
point calling her to see if she was coming as I recalled I had the appointment on same day but
recalled we'd set up the appointment a half hour later then Ms. Joanna states was the appointed
time. Then she stated that I was always keeping her waiting so the story just kept getting
bigger. I can not verify since she did not leave messages and did not ring the bell to my home
where five family members were on the premises that she came to my house and sat in a car for
twenty minutes nor can I undo the impression that I was forever making her wait. I won't refute
she may have had to wait once but to state every time is an extreme and desperate exaggeration
on behalf of someone who had decided she did not wish to work with me. Again if the goal of
aiding me with transportation had been reached it wouldn't have been an issue. This should have
led to mediation not slander and a suspension of services.
The second missed appointment was a clear cut missed communication in which I had
originally scheduled for her to pick me up from my internship not my home and when that
schedule changed I thought I had let her know to pick me up from my residence it was a
missed communication not a deliberate I don't want assistance from FFGT or OOD.
Again, Joanna was also having difficulty with the flexible scheduling demands of working
around my internship as much as me but Joanna stated this only in a one sided way to
Ms. Parr that I had created this difficulty and extended this to extrapolate that I would
fail to adjust to an employment situation or working with FFGT due to a need for
scheduling around school. Having a set school schedule I now know I could only give an
employer Friday evening, Saturday, and part of Sunday as I would need time for school work.
So in a way it makes the situation less vague and more concrete which is helpful to me. This
however was presented as a negative. ORC, Sec 5123.62 (L), and (M).
11. Addressed in examples given in #2,4,6.
12. Refer to #4, 5, 7, and most importantly 13.
13. The other individuals that I graduated from Fort Hayes with were served by other service
providers, and both have had jobs three years in a row their diagnoses are High Functional
Autism; I have both Aspergers and High Functioning Autism. We both applied at roughly the
same time to OOD and their needs are being met but mine are not. FFGT was strongly touted
above another service provider in my area as being best suited to help persons with Autism but
Aspergers is quite different from Autism (The American DSM for years did not recognize
Aspergers and then introduced it and promoted its acceptance and then rewrote and revised the
DSM last year which does not recognize it as its own neurological disorder this is in sharp
contrast to the international community that still recognizes Aspergers; also in educational
models in the US Aspergers is still recognized). The point being that the major goal of OOD
and allegedly FFGT is to find employment opportunities for those under served minority
within the population that have similar neurological features to mine and yet this has been an
epic failure. I went from feeling elation and hope in March that at last I would attain

employment suitable to a person with my diagnosis and to me as an individual. This has been
the biggest disappointment in four years.
I feel extremely conflicted about making this report because Ms. Todd was so kind to me during
her evaluation of me; I know there are few opportunities for persons with Autism and even
fewer for persons with Aspergers and would hate for an opportunity or service provider to be
shut down due to my experiences; However everyone has a right to be treated with personal
dignity and have their worth reaffirmed. Persons with Aspergers often have the most difficulty
in finding suitable employment. Funding for work opportunities for individuals such as myself
should be geared toward those who really do know how to create opportunities for us or help us
capitalize on opportunities that we create for ourselves. No person should be denied
employment opportunities because of their personality, or because they have sought
opportunities in life such as an internship or additional educational or vocational training.
Sincerely,
Sam Grant - Williams