By the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA), special education students can attend high school until they are 22 years of age. However, those with developmental disabilities still need help after high school. Anne Smith, the executive director of Arc Santa Rosa, Inc., said her organization provides meaningful day activities to the disabled under a mission of independence.
“In the 1900’s in Florida,” Smith said, “the gold standard was the farm colony for feeble-minded children in Gainesville.” Regardless of the name and how the disabled were treated a century ago, Smith said Gainesville was a long way to go for struggling families who needed help with a developmentally disabled child. Even 30 years ago, Smith said, when her son was diagnosed with autism she was told she should send him to an institution and focus on her other children. She was appalled. She then learned of Arc and they helped.
Smith said she joined Arc with a birth to 3-years-old program and after the schools took it over, she joined the board of directors, and 5 years later became the executive director.
Smith said through teaching independence skills some members can gain employment and even live on their own. Smith said she has a friend in the south of the state who works at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa who, like physicist Stephen Hawking, needs total care.
Supported living is the program, Smith said, allowing Arc members to live on their own with help. “Some have Habitat [for Humanity] homes, although some have had services cut,” she said.
Supported employment is another independence program offered by Arc. Smith said Arc has a job coach with resources to find employment. Smith said Arc also has an agreement with the state to provide employees with disabilities. She said some work at Arc in the garden center or on the litter crew.
“If you want to get a job, the first thing you need to learn is personal hygiene,” Smith said, and so Arc teaches individuals how to brush their teeth and hair and how to do nail care. They’re also given help with reading, she said and work through an individual support plan. The Santa Rosa County Extension office helps, she said, teach cooking and preparing food like salads and desserts. She said individuals also learn how to shop for healthy food on a budget. Household skills are another segment of abilities taught. Smith said individuals earn minimum wage pay for jobs like mopping. Smith said, “We had a girl who couldn’t speak a word but she knew what money was,” and made the hand motion for money.
Art lessons are available for Arc members as well. “Art promotes motor skills and socialization. All activities have some kind of goal,” she said. “Every Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m., a group of about 20 musicians play together. They needed space to play so they came here,” Smith said. “A group,” she said, “of that 20 will start coming Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.” She said, “When someone from the community comes in or they go out, it strengthens the bond with the community. They blossom.”
Despite what Arc does for members who are constantly in need, the non profit organization operates on a minimal budget. Smith said Arc members love going bowling at Oops Alley, which costs $5.50 per person, but when members can’t pay the teachers may contribute out of their own pockets. “We work like school teachers,” she said. She also said they lost a full time teacher due to cuts. Arc members used to take care of Hawkins Recreational Park, dedicated to the use of persons with disabilities, on Munson Highway just past Carpenter’s Park. “We had to stop Hawkins Park maintenance because the state wasn’t funding enough. We used to do it, 20 to 25 years ago.” She said somebody vandalized the outlet box and the park had vagrancy issues. She also said Arc’s blueberry patch has relied on rain since the pump broke.
Smith said, “If not money, I would ask for volunteers.” “We need help with the blueberries and volunteers in the garden shop. We need help pruning and doing clippings.” She said Arc also needs help with housekeeping, roofing and carpentry and painting, hair care.
“We welcome volunteers,” she said. Smith also said dental care is desperately needed. She said it was bad enough, the state of Florida added a line item in the budget, but there’s only so much to go around in the whole state. “A lot [of the disabled] are not trained in dental care so a lot have bad teeth or dentures,” she said. One youngster, Smith said, who came to Arc was never given a tooth brush before. While the June Blueberry Bash gave the Arc some much needed support, Smith said they are in need of so much more.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Arc helps the disabled grow