Maryland nonprofit works to train, place workers with intellectual disabilities

From The Gazette in Maryland. In the picture, Tonya Coppin (center), director of Creative Options and Employment Inc., works with Sandy Johnson of Greenbelt.

Riverdale resident Sandy Johnson has a goal: to become a teacher's aide.

Johnson, 56, who has intellectual disabilities, is receiving help in realizing her dream from the Riverdale-based Creative Options and Employment, a nonprofit that trains and places individuals with intellectual disabilities in volunteer positions and jobs.

Johnson currently is a volunteer monitor at Riverdale Elementary School, a position she hopes will lead to her becoming an aide.

"I wanted something different to do," Johnson said about her job at Riverdale. "It feels good."

Johnson is one of 70 participants in programs run by COE, and the organization is part of a regional coalition which kicked off a campaign on Friday to raise awareness of hiring people with intellectual disabilities

The District of Columbia Coalition for Community Services launched a new Web site, thinkonthis.org, as a clearing house for businesses interested in disability employment.

Mental retardation is the primary diagnosis for people with intellectual disabilities, but the label covers a wide range of conditions, such as Down syndrome, several levels of autism and non-specified retardation, COE director Tonya Coppin said.

Johnson worked at the New Horizons Child Development Center Inc. daycare in Forestville before COE helped place her into Riverdale Elementary. She is studying to get her GED and is learning how to manage money and about the need for resumes when applying for jobs.

Juliet McKenzie, 27, of Washington, D.C., has been working as a cashier at Howard University for two years. She said she makes enough money in the job to support herself.

"They treat you equally, treat you with respect. [Jobs] make us independent," McKenzie said. "We learn differently but you should treat us like everybody else."

Riverdale Elementary principal Carol Cantu said COE placed several volunteers in the school during the 2007-2008 school year and that the school hired two of the volunteers to work as recess and cafeteria monitors during the 2008-2009 year because "they did so well."

"They know that we need them and we're really depending on them," Cantu said.

Cantu said the school benefits by having increased supervision over the children, and the students learn to respect people with disabilities.

Coppin said one part of the coalition campaign is to educate employers on hiring people with intellectual disabilities and dispel myths or stereotypes.

"[People with intellectual disabilities] are actually much more reliable than you would think," Coppin said. "They are loyal, having been given the chance to work. They get to work on time because they value the job, because they feel like this is a chance for them."

Coppin said COE usually starts people off as volunteers who then are hired into jobs accompanied by a job coach.

Cantu, the Riverdale Elementary principal, said that people with mental disabilities have other strengths certain jobs require.

"If [my employees] can function in a school with children, where you have to be ‘on,' then I would say they can work in most areas, as long as they are hired in their areas of strength," Cantu said.