Working out in the community often is the best outcome for many clients at Merrick. But that's not the case for all-perhaps not even for most. We provide social and pre-vocational services for 375 adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. Each of these 375 people have a unique personality, interests in different types of work, a distinct skill set, and support needs exactly like no other. So how can there be a single right answer to what kind of work each should be engaged in or where they should employed?

A major part of our organization's mission is to provide meaningful work for the clients, "meaningful" defined as: (i) engaged in preferred work; (ii) completed by the individual; (iii) in a setting of choice (facility, crew, hired); (iv) working desired hours; and (v) at a satisfactory wage. This column focuses on (iii), the setting of choice.

Let's define what it means to work out in the community, and compare that to what it means to work in a sheltered workshop.

Out in the community

The idyllic image of our clients working out in the community is in a fully integrated setting, constantly interacting with coworkers who are non-disabled and the public. Each day the clients benefit from these interactions, just as surely as they enrich the lives of all those with which they work. This is a fine image, and in some cases it is precisely accurate.

In other cases, though, the setting falls far short of that goal. There are businesses where individuals and work crews are huddled into their own work area, their interactions with coworkers is limited to one or two production workers in the back room, and their interactions with the public are rare indeed.

The reality for most  work crews, and to a lesser extent for some clients hired by a business, falls somewhere between the two integration extremes. Mind you, it is not a bad situation if the arrangement suits both the work crew and the business establishment. This passes the third test for "meaningful work", the setting of choice.

Sheltered workshop

One of two images may come to mind upon hearing this term:

1. A warm fuzzy place where the clients are totally pampered and never forced to do anything not to their liking, or
2. A sweatshop where the clients are chained to a worktable and forced to slave away by Simon Legree wannabes.

Most would agree that here at Merrick we are a lot closer to #1 than #2. But not entirely so. We are, after all, a "pre-vocational service", preparing the clients for work "in the real world." A major part of the service we offer is to guide clients toward realizing their goals and dreams. To that end, this guidance often includes some gentle encouragement by the direct support staff to the clients to show up every day prepared to work, and while on the job, to stay focused on the task at hand.

As to the social setting at Merrick, while warm and fuzzy might be a reach, there are many, many chances every day for the clients to interact positively with each other and with the staff. So much so, that some clients who could very easily be working out in the community tell us that they prefer to work here at Merrick. For many of our clients, working at 3210 Labore clearly is the setting of their choice.

This column will unlikely change many minds, and the debate "out in the community" vs. "sheltered workshops" will continue. As always, Merrick will continue to consider the client's choice in these matters. ❖