Moving the Needle

When working daily with the developmentally disabled you see a wide array of successes and challenges.  We know there are some cases where an individual’s level of care and quality of life gets better, but to an outsider it may appear that no real success is occurring.  However, there are many examples individuals whose lives have changed dramatically.   Take Thomas as an example.

His parents started bringing him to the adult day training program at ARC Marion where he learned how to operate machinery, work with loud noises, and function under strict time constraints.  Essentially, he learned job skills that would allow him to work out in the community. 

At the same time, he decided he wanted to be more independent, so the staff at ARC Marion began helping Richard learn the concepts of mass transit.  Staff members assisted him in knowing how to ride public transportation to and from his home and ARC Marion.  Soon he was traveling by all by himself on the bus every day.  He also made a friend on the bus, another developmentally disabled client named Mary who was coming to ARC Marion as well.

Thomas began advancing pretty dramatically in the skills he was learning, so he started going out on enclave a few times a week.  Enclave is when clients at ARC Marion are taken into the community in groups to work in a business together for the day.  Thomas did so well in enclave that he decided he wanted to have a “real job.”  So he took the bus from his home to a job interview at Signature Brands, and he got the job!  In fact, he’s been working at Signature Brands several years now and only sees an ARC Marion Supported Employment job coach a few times a month.  Every day he rides public transportation from his home to his job and is functioning like any other member of society.

There are plenty of individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities who won’t ever have a story like Thomas’s.  Their life’s successes may be more like learning to feed themselves or hold a pencil, finding a way to communicate with others or becoming toilet trained, or maybe taking just one step away from a wheelchair.  Their stories may not be as dramatic as Thomas’s is, but that doesn’t make their accomplishments any less valid.  However, when you do see a fantastic transformation in a person’s life like we’ve seen in Thomas’s we’re ecstatic to be a part of the process in moving the needle of his success.  Helping and watching change is advocacy.