Digitability's award-winning work-ready training program was created by Michele McKeone, M. Ed., a special education teacher who taught students with a wide-range of cognitive and behavioral needs at South Philadelphia High School for more than seven years.
While teaching she realized that students with disabilities were pigeonholed into unemployment or underemployment. Her observation mirrored the 70% unemployment rate for people with cognitive disabilities. Michele recognized that in order for her students to achieve their independence and obtain employment, they would need to overcome society's immense social and psychological barriers to achieve their independence.
Michele McKeone, M. Ed is an award-winning thought leader in the neurodiversity community. As the Founder + CEO of Digitability, she launched a new model that fully prepares people with neurodiverse needs for our tech-driven and highly social workforce.
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Michele McKeone, M. Ed is an award-winning thought leader in the neurodiversity community. As the Founder + CEO of Digitability, she launched a new model that fully prepares people with neurodiverse needs for our tech-driven and highly social workforce.
Named a Woman of Distinction by the Philadelphia Business Journal, Michele has won grants from business plan competitions at the University of Pennsylvania and The Corzo Center for the Creative Economy to increase Digitability's social impact. Funded in part by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Digitability is scaling its impact across the country to increase neurodiversity in the workplace.
Through Digitability's technology, Michele’s model of training is transforming the status quo of unemployment and underemployment on a scalable plain. For the last six years, the Digitability model has been recognized as an innovative solution to the unemployment crisis facing a large and growing population, and has been featured on MSNBC, CNET, NPR, TechCrunch, showcased at Silicon Valley's Social Innovation Summit, and highlighted in the Founder’s TedX Talk on gender, disability and empathy.
Digitability develops a sense of empowerment and the ability to persevere; this is helping people with neurodiverse needs overcome existing social and attitudinal barriers to obtaining and sustaining employment.
