ABC:
No Barriers and Opportunities Unlimited

Story by Margi Gomez

What would you do if you had a loved family member or close friend who was born or became developmentally disabled? Wouldn’t you want them to have as many opportunities as possible to participate in the community, make friends, and have meaningful work?

Linda Anderson, program director of Association of Behavior Consultants in Mendocino County, says that is what her program aims to do. Based in Ukiah, she says she began as a behavioral specialist in Sonoma County in the early 1980s at a time when many state mental institutions were being closed. “At the time we focused on keeping people with developmental disabilities out of institutions, or keeping those who were in danger of being institutionalized in the community,” she says.

ABC was begun by Bill Palyo, now the nonprofit’s executive director, in conjunction with the Redwood Coast Regional Center [one of California’s twenty-one regional centers established through state legislation to answer the needs of people with developmental disabilities and their families]. “It’s a private nonprofit,” Linda explains of ABC. “Beginning with the No Barriers program, we started as a support for people with behavioral issues who had problems fitting into other day programs. They needed more individual support, ideally one on one or one on two or three.” The emphasis in No Barriers has been on socialization and community integration for the developmentally disabled, and ABC now has a second program, called Opportunities Unlimited, which addresses employment issues.

“About four years ago,” Linda remembers, “I realized that we could go beyond our original mission and extend services to those who had reached the point where they want to work and actually make money.” Anderson wrote a grant to provide seed money for what the organization calls “customized employment,” which promotes an individualized match between the interests and needs of the prospective employees or entrepreneurs and the community at large.

Linda says that ABC clients often have social and financial goals which become a framework for employment and/or entrepreneurial opportunities. “Some people prefer to work for someone else, and others have skills and interests which can lead to having their own businesses. This can be a great chance for people to develop in a number of ways, either in employment or in growing their own business. They learn how to accomplish goals and gain confidence in the process.”

Gerard Eisenberg is the coast supervisor for ABC’s No Barriers and Opportunities Unlimited programs, and he has a number of individuals with whom he works. Mike Coury is one. Mike is a young man who has an interest in plants and gardens. He and Gerard are in the process of turning his interest into a profit-making business. Mike picks up important skills and experience through volunteer activities at the Noyo Food Forest and at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg, and he has a number of root cuttings started at the Caspar Community greenhouse that he cares for on a weekly basis. Mike takes pride in his work and declares Gerard, “a great supervisor!”

Gerard takes pride in his work, too, and says that Mike has come a long way. “The idea is to train these folks to learn to work on their own to the greatest extent possible.” As Mike carefully sprays the baby plants, Gerard explains that patience is a big factor in the relationship that a staff member has with the individual. “We are taught to wait for as long as we can to give gentle prompts and suggestions, and to let them lead the way as much as possible. We can then begin to fade the prompts as they gradually learn how to do the tasks on their own.”

Gerard continues, “First we do an assessment that helps us determine what are the individual’s strengths and what are their weaknesses, what kind of stamina they have to draw on, and whether there might be behavioral barriers that will limit their potential.” He and Mike have worked together on some of Mike’s initial social difficulties, and Gerard says he is happy to report that Mike is now able to participate in many more social situations than he could do when they began working together less than a year ago. “I’m a gentleman now,” Mike beams.

Gerard works with other individuals who are gaining employment and entrepreneurial skills by working at the Mendocino Coast District Hospital gift shop and the Fort Bragg Food Bank as well as Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. “All of the community organizations we work with have been great and the folks at the Botanical Gardens have been especially helpful with Mike. They have guided us with their suggestions as to what plants might have a market at their gift shop, and they have first right of refusal when Mike’s plants are ready to be sold.”

Jason Rader works in the Ukiah office as the associate program manager for ABC Opportunities Unlimited. He says that the ABC program allows people a number of advantages, not the least of which is providing them with an alternative to sitting around at home. “They can find a place, a niche in the community where they feel useful. Although we start out acting as job coaches, the goal is to have them in an employment position where they can be on their own. The more they do it, the more confidence they gain.”

The staff at ABC sets goals and facilitates the meeting of those goals. “We have a planning sheet that we go over each day with our client,” Jason says. “We note what they see as their particular social goals, along with specific business goals that they might have. We then begin working on accomplishing their goals, whether it’s gaining skills through a volunteer position, or at the job site as an employee or an entrepreneur.”

Linda Anderson points out that in a typical employment agency, the person tries to fit into a certain position. “Here, we try to find a position that fits the person.” “Often,” she says, “there are aspects of the job that their prospective employees are not prepared for. Maybe it’s doing the public relations work, recruiting new accounts, that kind of thing. Our staff basically fills in the blanks, always working towards the clients taking on more and more responsibility.”

Linda says that the role of an ABC staff person, “is not that of a mom, or of a friend. It is to help people expand their ability to be independent and to reach their goals. This means helping people to communicate their interests and needs and to help them attain the skills necessary to accomplish their goals.” She goes on, “It takes a lot to make a good ABC staff member. More than anything else, you have to be wonderfully committed. I think our staff members feel good about what they do, and see themselves as helping to make the world a little bit better.”

According to Linda, all funding for people with developmental disabilities comes from the state via the Redwood Coast Regional Center. “California is the only state in the U.S. that mandates that adults with developmental disabilities have the right to services,” she continues. She credits the Lanterman Act, passed in the California legislature in 1969, which says people with developmental disabilities and their families have a right to get the services and supports they need to live like people who don’t have disabilities. Linda remembers those times as tumultuous. “The moms were the ones that really changed things. They got bus loads of people, including their own children, and hit the streets of Sacramento. How could the legislators say no? Those moms are my true heroines.”

Some of the skills and self esteem promoted at ABC comes from the many volunteer hours that participants put in. In the Ukiah area, where the program is older and larger, individuals find work at Plowshares, the county library, the community gardens, the animal shelter, the Goodwill store, and more. On the coast, ABC workers provide assistance at the Fort Bragg Food Bank, Mendocino Coast District Hospital, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Noyo Food Forest garden project, the Redwood Coast Senior Center, and others. Linda emphasizes the pride the workers take in their contributions, and the importance of the confidence and social skills that can be gained.

Jason Rader agrees. “They can build up the abilities they’ll need in the working world and they know they are helping out their community. They can discover things that they wouldn’t know otherwise. Our clients put tons of hours in at community organizations, and it’s a real win-win situation”

Jason uses the example of a client who is interested in food prep, who volunteers at Plowshares, which provides hot meals for the homeless and those with low income. “He was able to test out all the aspects of an occupation, and see how he liked doing the work, how well it fit his needs, and to what extent he was able to be of service.”

Jason, who has been doing this work for five years, says he finds his work incredibly satisfying. “If at the end of the day you’ve helped someone, it’s a great feeling.”

Gerard Eisenberg agrees. “I enjoy what I do and I feel that I make a direct positive difference in peoples’ lives by my actions. That’s what really makes the work worth doing.”

Linda Anderson is well aware of the challenges that life can hold for the developmentally disabled, and the extent to which a program like hers can make a difference in the lives of those who use the ABC services. “There’s a lot of need out there,” she asserts, “and the state budget is a mess. But I know I would feel terribly sad if the people I work with were to lose the rights that they and their families have worked so hard to gain—the right to a good, fulfilling life, and the opportunity to fulfill the same roles in society that the rest of us enjoy.”

For more information on the No Barriers and Opportunities Unlimited programs of Association of Behavior Consultants in Mendocino County, contact Linda Anderson, program director, at 707-484-7698.