Next step for workers with disabilities: real-world jobs

The future seemed bleak for people with disabilities after a court ruling forced sheltered workshops where many of them worked to close.

What kind of work, advocates wondered, could they do instead?

The answer, at least in the Lower Hudson Valley, is a lot of things — from making and displaying jewelry in New City to baking and packaging dog treats in North Salem to staffing a discount store in Garnerville.

"It's a whole new world of opportunities," said Steven Rubinsky, deputy executive director of ARC of Rockland, which just purchased Strawtown Jewelry, a popular and long-established gift shop in New City, that is now staffed by their clients.

The agency is among a growing number that is purchasing or starting businesses with the goal of using them for educational and vocational training for people with disabilities.

Meaningful work has long been a goal for people with developmental disabilities. But for years many of the hardest to place and most vulnerable people found their niche in so called sheltered workshops — groups usually run by social service agencies. Workers were often paid piecemeal, sometimes as little as a $1 an hour, for such tasks as assembling boxes or labeling products.

Most of their interactions were limited to other people with disabilities.

“The feeling was 20 years ago or 30 years ago that they shouldn’t be out there in the community – that they were safer and happier in these sheltered workshops,” said Carol Gearing, director of life planning at ARC of Westchester, which serves more than 2,000 people. “There has been a complete turnaround in our culture.”

That turnaround has been prompted in part by the 1999 Olmstead ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which required that people with disabilities work, live and receive services in the most integrated setting possible. And like all other workers, they have to earn at least minimum wage.

Agencies nationwide have closed or are phasing out sheltered workshops in response to the court ruling. Rockland ARC and Camp Venture, another Rockland social service organization, are closing their remaining sheltered workshops at the end of the year. ARC of Westchester is also winding down similar programs.

But the question of where the former workshop participants will work next has set off a scramble for solutions.

Local groups have found what they see as the next step for disabled people in the workplace.

"Instead of looking for a placement for our individuals, we decided to create our own," said Kelly Apfel of Community Based Services, a North Salem organization that helps people with autism and developmental disabilities.

CEO Vicki M. Sylvester's three dogs provided the inspiration for Good Reasons, a company located a mile away in North Salem that makes dog treats.

Some of the work, from combining ingredients, baking, molding into shape and packing, is done by the agency's clients. The treats are sold at a variety of retailers, including Whole Foods.

"We employ people of all abilities," Apfel said. "Integration is key."

That integration includes being visible in the community. Strawtown Jewelry, for example, occupies a prominent place on Main Street, across the street from the Rockland Courthouse and county office buildings.

Camp Venture recently purchased a Just-A-Buck franchise in Garnerville, located in a busy strip mall.

The store was sparkling clean and filled last week with everything from St. Patrick's Day decorations to food and low cost household items.

Inside, Meg Ryan, 36, confidently and flawlessly rang up customers' purchases. A job coach stood nearby in case Ryan needed help, which she didn't.

The Nanuet woman who formerly worked in a Camp Venture workshop said she likes her new gig.

The best part?

"The paycheck," Ryan said, adding that she is saving to go on a cruise.

Still, the transition hasn't been easy for a lot of workers or the agencies that help them.

ARC of Rockland is getting help from Strawtown Jewelry's former owner, Ellen Arkin. Even so, Rubinsky, who has spent his career focusing on rehabilitation, said he never expected to find himself at a recent jewelry trade show in New York City.

Westchester ARC has placed workers with more than 200 businesses throughout the county.

“They want to hire out people,” Gearing said. “They know our people really want to go to work, they never take a day off or try to get out of working – they are so happy to have a job and to be part of the community.”

Older people who spent years — sometimes decades — working in smaller workshops with the same group of people can find the transition tough.

Susie McCarthy, 69, of Pearl River, just started working at Strawtown Jewelry. She studiously threaded beads as she made a necklace at the jewelry store last week while a job coach timed her progress.

People are assigned jobs according to their abilities and interests.

"It's not easy for some of the consumers," said Camp Venture Chief Executive Daniel Lukens. "But this is where the future is going."

Twitter: @JaneLernerNY