COLUMBUS, Ohio -- If he had been born 50 years ago, Ian Baustian might have been institutionalized. Locked away.
No one would have discovered whether he was capable of more.
Back then, Baustian wouldn't have been a laboratory clinical assistant at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, where he works alongside people who don't have disabilities - people who embrace him and his autism.
His kind of story is both triumph and tragedy, as far as advocates are concerned. As far as Ohio has come in employing developmentally disabled adults, the state has much further to go, they say.
What if they want to work in a sheltered workshop? It should be their choice! They deserve to have all employment choices - just like everyone else. We need to Protect Sheltered Workshops! https://www.change.org/petitions/protect-sheltered-workshops
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