Will Work for Self. State doesn't offer enough help for disabled to find self-employment
| August 19, 2007 |  View for printing |
Dusty Dutton, a 30-year-old Larkspur woman with Down syndrome, is a successful and self-supporting puppeteer whose shows delight visitors to local farmers markets and children throughout the area.
John Coleman, 45, of Oakland, disabled since undergoing knee surgeries a couple of years ago, cannot get the funding to start his high-tech manufacturing business from the state agency charged with rehabilitating the disabled.
Besides the vast differences in complexity of their business plans, Dutton and Coleman are different in two other ways — Dutton has had the full support of her parents in navigating the state's agency for the severely developmentally disabled, the Department of Developmental Services.
Coleman, on the other hand, stands alone before the Department of Rehabilitation, a state agency critics say is ill-equipped to help the disabled achieve self-sufficiency through self-employment.
By Francine Brevetti, Staff writer
Full Story: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oakland ... /ci_6663444
No reader comments so far. Be the first to comment by clicking the button below.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law. Full copyright retained by the original publication. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
