Program Knows No Disability for Working, Earning Income
Nia Janyska had an assortment of wicker baskets in front of her, along with colorful votive candles, chocolate bars, packets of tea and small framed samples of her meticulous cross-stitch.</br></br>"Put them in neatly, nice and neatly," the 34-year-old said as she filled the baskets. "Make sure the decoration shows, so the customer buys them."</br></br>Janyska was explaining her technique for arranging gift baskets, but she was also using a business strategy for Uniquely Nia, a novel enterprise for a young woman with autism. Janyska is hoping businesses will find her gift baskets appealing enough to buy them for clients.</br></br>Janyska wants to be able work out of her Linthicum home in northern Anne Arundel County, and she has already thought about how to spend her earnings. "Buy ice cream, buy some candy, buy some snacks," she said. "I want to go to Disney World if there's not too many people [and it's] not too crowded."</br></br>Until recently, even the experts would have doubted that people with autism could become successful entrepreneurs. But Janyska and a handful of others with developmental disabilities are trying to do just that in a three-year-old program in Anne Arundel and Howard counties. If successful, the program could become a model for other jurisdictions in Maryland -- and an economic prospect for the developmentally disabled, many of whom face a lifetime of unemployment or underemployment.