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On weekdays, I tried to arrive at Driggs House around noon, to take advantage of the relative quiet before the evening shift, when the house was full. Most of the residents were not at home during the day, because residents of community-based facilities in New York State must be provided services (or be employed) outside their group homes for at least five hours per day during the week. This requirement is meant to prevent group homes from turning into institutions, if only on a smaller scale. Along with residential facilities, day treatment programs and sheltered workshops since the late 1970s have marked out what Rose (1998b, 179) describes as the “complex institutional topography” referred to as “the community.” Diane, Evelyn, Johnny, Marty, Paul, and Theresa attended day treatment (sometimes called day habilitation) programs. These programs “may vary widely” but must include “activities that provide a combination of diagnostic, active therapeutic treatment and habilitative services ” (14 N.Y.C.R.R. § 635.99-1). Diane, Evelyn, and Marty attended the same facility but were in different “rooms,” based on the way their needs were assessed. Many of the activities resemble the kind of curricula found in preschool, in that they emphasize creative expression and interpersonal relationships. In addition, there is “prevocational” training , which emphasizes specific skills or kinds of work. Diane’s program included more of this than Marty’s or Evelyn’s. Johnny’s was largely prevocational, and Paul and Theresa were in a program that catered to older people. “Program,” as it is called at Driggs House, resembles school, and some residents, such as Diane and Evelyn, referred to it that way. But Johnny called it work, because, according to the counselors , it eased the sting he felt in being an adult who goes to school. 69 4 ALL IN A DAY’S WORK The other daytime service was provided by the sheltered workshop, which OMRDD regulations describe as “a facility providing remunerative employment designed to provide a controlled and protective working environment and employment activities, with individualized goals to assist the individual to progress toward normal living and productive vocational status. The objective is competitive employment if the potential exists” (14 N.Y.C.R.R. § 635.99-1). Unlike those who attend program, who get picked up and returned by van or school bus, those attending workshops take public transportation. Remuneration is nominal, but a workshop is yet another setting, as Linkow and Moriearty (169) point out, in which “the framing of activity as work” defines its main purpose. Although the regulations use the same rhetoric about the goals of individualization and productivity as that for group homes, workshops do not appear to be held to quite the stringent level of programming that group homes are. Sheltered workshops usually arrange to bring in piecework from private-sector firms of the sort that involves sorting and bagging small items such as screws. On many days there was no work at all, which for some of the residents made the workshop boring, if not frustrating. Watching movies was one solution at Jennifer’s workshop, but there really was no argument with her complaint that “I can always watch movies at home.” Chris, David, and Kenneth also went to workshops. Still other residents had actual jobs, in these cases secured through supervised training and placement programs. Ruby was a stock person in a neighborhood food shop, but after some months she found the physical work taxing and a bit lonely, always being on her own in the back. She returned to the training program in hopes of acquiring a preferable job. Evan worked in a similar arrangement, bagging groceries at a large supermarket. James attended an employment training program that placed him in temporary, supervised jobs in both public-sector and not-for-profit settings. The staffing schedule at Driggs House essentially follows the basic schedule of the residents. On weekdays there is a morning shift of three counselors (from roughly 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and an evening shift of five counselors (from roughly 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.). Between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., only one counselor is required to be on duty, and he or she must remain awake. The morning and evening counselors are the staff primarily responsible for the work with residents and the bulk of paperwork. Almost all these counselors work four weekday 70 all in a day’s work [3.149.251.154...

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