An Entrepreneur Changes Course; Owner of Tim's Place Follows His Heart

Happy Friday. Something that's going to brighten your day.

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- What makes Tim's Place restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico so special is that it is, indeed, Tim's Place.
Tim Harris is the only restaurant owner in the country with Down syndrome. For the last five years he has lived for his business, which is why his customers were shocked when Tim announced recently that he'd be closing.
"My customers cry a lot into my arms," he explained.

As NYS Phases Out Workshops, Agencies Seeking Alternatives for Individuals

Sheltered workshops, once considered a progressive alternative to institutionalizing the developmentally disabled, could soon be artifacts of a different era and philosophy. 

Gerard McEneaney, 56, at his
sheltered workshop.

New York State ended new admissions to sheltered workshops as of July 1, 2013, and will stop funding for them in 2020 -- the result of the state's April 2013 agreement with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Finding Jobs for Adults with Autism

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that one in every 68 U.S. children has autism. Paul Wehman, a teacher and researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University, argues that we must begin to plan for their futures as adults.

Sean was born at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, Va., and spent many weeks of his young life in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. Today, 20 years later, he is a handsome young man with a brilliant smile, and he is back in the same pediatric intensive care unit. Now, however, he is serving a 10-week internship stocking nursing stations, sanitizing supplies and verifying patient information on charts.

N.J. Saves Sheltered Workshops

defendingThe state’s sheltered workshop program will continue after participants and their families rallied the Legislature to keep it in place as an option for adults with disabilities to do meaningful paid jobs in safe and supportive workplaces despite their challenges.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Department of Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disabilities announced plans to begin phasing out and defunding sheltered workshops, including a program at the nonprofit Burlington County Occupational Training Center in Burlington Township, in favor of reformed and expanded supportive work programs that would focus on moving the population into competitive employment in the community.

Workers at the Occupational Training
Center in Burlington Township.

The reform was in keeping with New Jersey’s commitment as an “Employment First” state that recognizes that “competitive employment in the general workforce is the first and preferred post-education outcome for people with any type of disability.” While providers, including the OTC, applaud the shift in focus and would still deliver the services, they argued that the state shouldn’t eliminate all other options.