For people with disabilities, work can be more than a paycheck. It can provide a pathway to income, independence, connection, purpose, and community participation. Yet since graduating from college, Gabriel Schaerf,  who is on the autism spectrum, had found job interviews overwhelming. “I felt I needed to be perfect at an interview in order to get a job,” he says. Through KF-Stride®, a groundbreaking Kessler Foundation online curriculum that combines positive psychology, animation, practice interviews, and hands-on coaching, Gabriel began to view the interview process differently.

Gabriel began to let go of the need for perfection and approach interviews with greater confidence. Watching recordings of his mock interviews helped him understand what employers might notice and how to describe his qualities. He recognized creativity, honesty, and humility as strengths he already possessed, but the program helped him see them in a new light. He realized that creativity was not limited to artistic expression. It was also “how you respond to someone or how you handle a certain situation.”

Donor support helps bring practical research tools such as KF-Stride to people who can benefit from them, opening pathways to employment, confidence, and connection. “I don’t think I could have made this kind of progress without KF-Stride,” Gabriel says.