World Autism Day: Katy ice cream shop employs mostly people with disabilities

HOUSTON - One Katy ice cream shop is dedicated to employing people with special needs and disabilities.

Sunday marks the 16th annual World Autism Awareness Day.

Customers strutting into Howdy Homemade Ice Cream might immediately notice the shop’s bright colors and incredibly tempting smell. 

But beyond the delicious ice cream, the franchise has made it its mission to help teens and adults with special needs become productive members of society. 

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"75% of our employees have special needs. The disabilities range from Autism to intellectual disabilities. We have Williams syndrome, and we have Down syndrome too, and they’re all on different ability levels," said Dana Batson, the general manager. 

Since opening its doors along I-10 and N. Westgreen Blvd in July 2021, Howdy Homemade Ice Cream has employed dozens of special needs adults that are affectionately referred to as heroes.

"I've been working here for about a year. My main responsibility here is scooping ice cream, bussing tables, basically everything," said Simon Hutson, one of the heroes with Autism.

Heroes like Simon Hutson, 22, and J.C., 28, say Howdy has become a second home to them.

"It gives me a sense of independence and you know, allows me to feel like a part of the community because for so long, it was like nobody wanted to handle me because they found out I had a disability. It put me down a lot because it was like you're not even giving me the opportunity to show you what I’m capable of," J.C. said.

Batson said her brother opened the franchise two years ago to help honor their late cousin with Down syndrome. Batson hopes that working at Howdy will open new doors for the employees who often struggle to find opportunities.

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"Here we work on with our employees. We work on soft skills, so we’re teaching them how to work as a team, we teach them how to communicate, we work on their interpersonal skills. They tell us that when they apply to jobs, they don’t even get called back, so, we wanted to kind of break down those barriers for them and open up a place for them to call home and show how well they can do on the job," Baton said. 

Howdy Homemade Ice Cream is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon-9 p.m. and on Mondays from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

To learn more about the business, click here.