An entrepreneur with autism and popcorn.

Joe Steffy, who was born with down syndrome and later diagnosed with autism, was told he would likely never be hired for a normal day job. Officials at his school told him he would struggle to communicate, have a difficult time caring for himself, and likely always be dependent on others. They were right about one of those things: Steffy may never be hired.That’s because he’s too busy running his own successful company. With help from his parents, Steffy, now 30, started Poppin Joe’s Gourmet Kettle Korn in 2005. “My business works for me,” Steffy said recently. “It creates new opportunities for me to grow as a person, and to be an engaged, valued member of my community.” Today, Steffy is a sole proprietor and employs seven seasonal workers. In 2016, he brought in $67,000 in gross sales (up more than four-fold from the $15,000 he made in 2005). Steffy shared his story with the U.S. House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee in May as part of a larger conversation in Washington about why it’s important for disabled Americans to be given more exposure to entrepreneurship opportunities. “The worst disability there is that of low expectations,” Steffy told the committee. “They said I would never hold a job, that I had no attention span, could not focus, would need to live in a group home and go to a sheltered workshop. My parents disagreed.”read