Diana Simmons (right) of Marion and Patti Loth of Cedar Rapids work on a repackaging project for a tool company at Options of Linn County on Williams Blvd. in southwest Cedar Rapids on Thursday, April 1, 2010. In the past year, . (Julie Koehn/The Gazette)
Some workers with developmental disabilities are able to thrive in workplaces without support; we have too few opportunities for those Linn County workers who can’t.
For months, local disabilities advocates and families have been putting heads together to address the need.
“You have this whole group of people who are not people who can go into the community and immediately get a job,” Linn County MHDD Director Mechelle Dhondt told me this week. “But they can work, and they want to work. They want to do something that’s real and useful.”
The group’s ideas include helping businesses recruit and train workers with developmental disabilities and developing free-standing enterprises, such as coffee carts. They want to promote entrepreneurial and volunteer options, as well as artistic endeavors. They plan to ask the county Mental Health Advisory Board this week for seed money to help get their projects off the ground. The board should lend a hand.
Last year, dozens of local supported workers got their pink slips when long-term Medicaid funding for their employment started drying up.
Folks like Ron Hunt, 37, who lost his full-time job of 14 years.
He still puts in a few hours in an enclave job, but Ron misses his full-time job, his mother Shirley Harris told me Friday. “He doesn’t think of himself as disabled. He’s just Ron.”
“He’s friendly. He’s outgoing. I don’t think he’s ever met a stranger,” she said. “He’s a great guy.” And he’s one of those Linn County workers who needs some support to thrive.
Harris took the initiative, helping Ron get set up selling fashion jewelry. Today he’ll launch his new business at the Flea Market at Hawkeye Downs. His mom, his sister and aunt will take turns helping him with details, such as making change.
But Ron knows it’s his own business and that’s important to him, she said. It’s important to her,too. “It means that I did ok. That I let him do what he’s able to do, to the best of his ability.” she said, her voice tight with emotion.
It isn’t easy — Harris works full-time, herself — but it’s something she feels she needs to do for her son. She hopes to help other families do the same.
Work is an important source of pride and identity for adults with developmental disabilities, same as anyone.
We’ve got a role to play here. Not every family can go it alone.
Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net
Note: A print and earlier online version of this article failed to use “people first” phrasing in describing workers with developmental disabilities.