First stop on the way to my own restaurant

Brokerage helps Sarah take steps toward cooking career

Sarah Kassien knew what she wanted in life: To be independent and work toward her dream job. She also knew what she didn’t want: To work in a sheltered workshop and be defined by her disability.

 

“My dream was to graduate from school and get a real life,” she says. “I wanted to be as independent as possible, both at home and at work. I knew I wanted to work around other people and be in a community setting of some sort,” Sarah says.

 

Kassien, 22, of La Grande, has cerebral palsy. She uses crutches and at times a motorized scooter to get around.

 

Sarah’s story illustrates how a circle of supports and coordinated services can work together to help a person with developmental disabilities move toward her dream job.

 

“When people asked me what I wanted to do for work, this is what I said to them: I would like to own a popular restaurant in town and be the cook,” Sarah says.

 

Sarah’s brokerage, Eastern Oregon Services Brokerage (EOSSB), serves 13 counties. A support service brokerage is a private agency funded by DHS to help individuals with developmental disabilities who live at home plan, arrange and monitor the supports they need to be safe and engaged in their community. Brokerages employ “personal agents” to help each customer build and implement a plan to achieve their personal goals.

 

Sarah entered EOSSB in June 2002 as she was leaving school. Her personal agent, Yvonne Bowling helped Sarah build a team and host a “person-centered planning session” to start moving toward her dream. This brought together all the key supports, including Sarah’s mom and two sisters; Pam Still, a counselor with DHS Vocational Rehabilitation Services; and staff from New Day Enterprises, a service agency for persons with developmental disabilities which worked with Sarah while she was in school.

 

New Day Enterprises staffers recognized that Sarah was not interested in working in their sheltered workshop. They also say that Sarah needed the chance to use skills important for her dream job. New Day developed a position for her called Residential Assistant Support at New Day’s residential center. Sarah works three days a week preparing evening meals, cleaning up, packing lunches for the next day, and performing other household duties.

 

Everyone on the team played an important role. Her vocational rehabilitation counselor and personal agent explained the process to Sarah, helped her with paperwork and coordinated meetings. Her employment consultant helped to create the position. Her co-workers provided “natural supports.” They trained her in her duties, modified menus for easier preparation, and modified the format of the menus by putting the recipes in a binder on a book rest, so she can see them from a standing position and maintain proper balance.

 

Another key person was Sarah herself. “My role was to keep telling people that I wanted to work in a community job and that I was capable of working,” she says. “I had to show up for meetings, complete paperwork and answer questions -- a lot! One of the hardest things was to wait, as it seemed to take a long time... I wanted a real life as soon as possible.”

 

Sarah feels that she has helped to raise the awareness of her employers, “that people with severe disabilities are capable of working and having dreams just like other people who are not so disabled.”

 

Job success often starts with believing it can happen. “My mom and sisters were supportive of me and knew that I could work in the community if given the opportunity,” Sarah says.

 

And Sarah has her “real life” now. “I work part-time at a job I enjoy. I hang out with my friends after work, doing things that I choose to do. I stay out too late sometimes. I spend my paycheck on things I want and need ... My long-range goal is to move out, get married and have children.”

 

...And open her own restaurant, of course.