Bowling helps scan and process the thousands of documents the court handles annually, and every Thursday serves as a bailiff for Butler County Probate Court Magistrate Patricia Hider. The 23-year-old, who graduated from Hamilton High School in 2010, was without a job since he ended a year-long internship with Ohio Casualty in 2011 that was made possible through Butler Tech’s school-to-adult program, Project SEARCH. And like many people out of work, he was frustrated.
But Bowling is not like most job seekers.
He has Asperger’s, a form of autism that impairs his social skills and communication skills. In a conversation, he carefully processes each and every statement and question before delivering a succinct answer.
Once his year was complete with Project SEARCH, which is designed provide students with disabilities entry-level job experiences in a business setting, Bowling couldn’t find another job for three years. He landed the job at the probate court due to the work of several people, including Carol Buckner a job coach with Buckner Employment Service & Training and Butler County Records Manager/Archivist Rhonda Freeze. Both women work closely with the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
The court needed extra help as they process more than 65,000 documents a year. Judge Rogers turned to Freeze for help, who then reached out to the Developmental Disabilities board. After a meeting to discuss the job that was needed at the court, Buckner thought of Bowling.
“We wanted to make sure the person that we could find, that Carol could find would be a good match. That’s basically what we are interested in,” said Keith Banner, employment services coordinator for the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
“I view (this job) as a step further in my life,” said Bowling. “I kind of struggled in finding a job. One of the things I want to do in life is to get a home of my own, an apartment maybe.”
Right now, Bowling lives with his parents and gets a ride to and from work through a transportation service.
Hider said the court and Bowling are a good match.
“Judge Rogers serves as his own clerk of courts so we manage all of our own files and paperwork,” said Hider. “All of the filings are housed here and at the (Butler County) records center, and we manage our own file room so that’s why we had a need for someone with Josh’s skills.”
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every weekday, Bowling enters data, files documents and sorts mail. But on Thursday, he is the bailiff for Hider. This role, she said, is “critical” for the judicial officer, and it was “extremely difficult” to hold hearings without a bailiff.
When he serves a bailiff, Bowling will bring the court into session, calls in litigants waiting in the rotunda, and brings documents to the magistrate from litigants and attorneys.
Bowling likes working in the probate court at the Historic Butler County Courthouse in downtown Hamilton. He said the people are “very nice” and the environment is “nice and quiet.” Hider said most people keep to themselves and are discrete because for some “it’s like going to the dentist” since they are typically there for “uncomfortable” reasons, such as settling of estates and assets of a decedent and enforcing provisions of wills.
In addition to his experience, Rogers said Bowling’s skills — punctual, detail-oriented and consistent — were also a good match. And he is most successful when he’s in a structured environment.
“If you properly define a job around a person, you can end up with a great worker,” Rogers said.
Bowling said he doesn’t know how long he’ll work at the Butler County Probate Court, but said he enjoys the work. Rogers, who was re-elected on Nov. 4 to another six-year term, said he’ll have a job as long as he’s judge.
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