Working toward independence: Program helps disabled gain job experience

Over the past 10 months, Leah Parker has gotten to know the halls of Issaquah's Providence Marianwood nursing home. She delivered newspapers to residents each morning and learned to expertly maneuver her electric wheelchair through the 120-bed facility.

Parker, 20, started volunteering at the nursing home through her school, East Lake High in Sammamish. But this summer, a new program gave her the opportunity to turn the volunteer experience into a paying job.

Along with 31 other young adults with developmental disabilities, Parker learned practical work skills this summer — and earned her first paycheck.

"This job has helped me be more independent and has taught me how to act around people who are older and have disabilities," Parker recently wrote in an essay about her job experience.

Participants in the six-week King County Work Training Program worked at various Eastside businesses to develop independent work skills through hands-on experience.

Parker, who has cerebral palsy, worked from her wheelchair. She usually uses a laptop to speak by typing in Morse code. The computer then converts her messages into audio.

But at Marianwood, she replaced her laptop with a purple basket to carry newspapers and collect documents for shredding. Her job coach, 19-year-old Harmony Paulsen of Redmond, helped her with tasks including setting up the document shredder and picking up newspapers.

"I see her as more of a friend and co-worker," Paulsen said.

Parker had been volunteering at Marianwood for about seven months when her teachers wanted her to be paid for her work. That's how they found out about the new county program.

"When we started this project it seemed like a perfect fit," said Vicki Mankin, a caseworker with King County's department of Community and Human Services.

The program was a collaboration between King County's Work Training Program and Developmental Disabilities Division, and the Lake Washington and Issaquah school districts.

The young adults worked in schools, camps, restaurants, hospitals and retail stores. Their duties ranged from clerical work to assisting with pets in a veterinary clinic; seating people at restaurants; working with youth at summer camps; and helping review film for a local TV station.

Some students were paired with a job coach. But the goal of the pairings was to get the students independently working by the end of the summer.

"It allows people to succeed to their full potential," Mankin said.

At the beginning of the summer, Parker had trouble with the shredder. She could collect the documents from staff but would rely on Paulsen to place the sheets of paper into the thin shredding area.

So Parker thought up a way to do it herself by fitting two pieces of cardboard around the shredding compartment.

"She's a great problem solver," Paulsen said. "She always seems to get the job done and get it done well."

The program is the Work Training Program's first collaboration with the Developmental Disabilities Division and the two school districts. Organizers hope to extend the program to more school districts in the fall.

In October, when the program starts again, Parker can return to Marianwood — this time without a job coach, Mankin said.

Parker's mother, Susan Parker, hopes her daughter will find work doing data entry once she's done with school.

But Leah Parker also wants to write and publish children's stories. She's already thinking of taking writing classes at Bellevue Community College.

But any plans for Parker's future — even coming back to Marianwood — are not certain, her mom said. "It's hard to look years ahead," Susan Parker said.

She knows her daughter has made a lasting impression on the residents and staff of Marianwood.

"People feel good after meeting her and talking to her," Susan Parker said. "She makes an impact. She's out there and likes making people feel good."

Maria Gonzalez: 206-464-2449 or mgonzalez@seattletimes.com