Oliver Kult is the owner of Maison Privée, a trendy barbershop in Old Montreal. Inspired by his sister, who works with people with autism, he recently brought 17-year-old Jeremy Leveille aboard as an intern as part of a program that gives people with autism work experience.
âIâm hoping that itâs going to help him develop some kind of self-confidence, because I didnât have self-confidence before starting my own businesses,â Kult told CTV Montreal.
At the shop, Leveille is hard at work sweeping the floor, washing windows -- all jobs that he says are fun.
âThe people here are really nice,â Leveille told CTV Montreal. âSometimes Iâm really shy, but they try everything to make me comfortable. And I like the style of the place because itâs really beautiful.â
That âstyle,â Kult said, made people in the work experience program gravitate towards his shop.
âThey all wanted to work here,â Kult said. âThey were all like, âOh, this is cool!â Thereâs hip-hop playing. The guys have tattoos. Itâs like a cool vibe, you know?â
At the beginning of the internship, Leveille mostly kept to himself -- but in just one month, staff say that they have noticed a change in the young man.
âI would say heâs a lot more comfortable with us,â one of Kultâs barbers told CTV Montreal. âAt first, he was a lot more shy. Like, we would have to go to him. But now heâll just come to us and ask us questions.â
Kult agrees.
âHeâs doing a lot more interaction,â he said. âHe comes into the shop, says âhiâ to everybody. Before he was a bit more in his corner.â
Leveille says heâs proud of that and Kult says the experience has inspired him to bring more young people living with autism into his shop in the future.
With a report from CTV Montrealâs Amanda Kline