My first job as an occupational therapist was at the Independent Living Learning Centre (ILLC). ILLC is an institution that specializes in the vocational training of teens and adults with developmental conditions. To this day, I’m affiliated with the ILLC as a clinician though I now mostly handle patients in hospitals. One of the most fulfilling aspects of our work at the ILLC is transitioning clients with disabilities into the workplace. Job placement feels like the pinnacle of an occupational therapist’s work, at least for me. So imagine my delight when I heard about the Roim Rachok, the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) program for drafting teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It successfully transitions teens because instead of being impairment-focused, it capitalizes on the strong visual-perceptual skills of persons who have ASD.
“Roim Rachok” is the Hebrew phrase for “Looking Ahead”. Through this program, teens with ASD are drafted into Unit 9900, the Visual Intelligence Division of the IDF. In Unit 9900, soldiers with ASD are tasked to analyze aerial reconnaissance photos that will provide the IDF with information that will be crucial in combat missions. Roim Rachok also has other training tracks for helping teens with ASD enter different professions in the army and in civilian life. Some examples of those careers are quality assurance, electronics, and information technology.
With the countless enemies that surround Israel, the talents of Unit 9900 have been proven critical to the survival of the world’s lone Jewish state. Watch these teens in action by clicking the videos below.
Roim Rachok Unit 9900 by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
Roim Rachok Empowers Youth on the Autism Spectrum through the IDF by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael - Jewish National Fund
My son with autism joined the IDF by the Yad LaYeled HaMeyuchad
(Photo from Canva)
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