This Coffee Shop Fosters Community and Purpose for People With Disabilities
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
- I married my Mr. Right almost 26 years ago, and we have four children. Bitty and Beau are our two youngest. And Bitty is nine, and Beau is 14. And they both have Down syndrome.
The idea of opening the shop hit me in November of 2015. It was 500 square feet. It was a labor of love. And it was just kind of a spontaneous-- let's name it Beau's Coffee. When Beau had his 12th birthday, it coincided with us moving into our larger space. And Beau said, we're putting a bigger sign on the building. Let's put Bitty's name on the sign too. And that was his 12th birthday wish.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When Beau was born, Ben and I had no experience with people with Down syndrome. We had spent very little time with people that had intellectual or developmental disabilities. And then I think when Bitty was born, it made us realize that we'd been entrusted with these two amazing lives, and there must be more to it. We needed to do something more to make the world better for Bitty and Beau, but for everybody who has an intellectual or developmental disability.
The coffee shop was really born out of that, thinking how do we multiply that feeling. How do we reach more people with that experience? Currently we employee 80 individuals with disabilities. And that can mean anything from Down syndrome to autism, cerebral palsy. And then we also have a support staff of typically developing employees that are there to support our employees in whatever way they need help. And we're trying to make a point here that people with disabilities can run a profitable and successful coffee shop.
Sadly, 80% of people with disabilities are unemployed. And it's not because they don't want a job. It's because employers have concern that they're not going to be productive or not fit into the workplace. Having a disability doesn't mean you're broken. It just means you have certain challenges that you face. And we all do.
I think that when you have a sense of purpose in the world, it makes you a healthier human being. And for so many people with disabilities that age out of the school system, there is nothing waiting for them. And so when they have a job, and they have a purpose, and they have an identity, it makes them feel good about themselves. And we all know when you feel good about yourselves, you're going to be a healthier, more productive person.
So it's bigger than what's happening here. It's giving them a new sense of identity, and it's helping them blaze their own trail and feel good about themselves. This place isn't about me. It's not about my husband. We feel like we're just the vessels for the work that we've been placed on the Earth to do, and that is to shine a light on these individuals that have been marginalized for so long.
And they are heroes. They really are. I look at them. I look at the obstacles they've overcome. I look at the way they are changing the way the world looks at people with disabilities. If you had asked me three years ago would I see where we are now coming, no. I thought we were going to change our community. I hoped we would.
I had no idea the reach this coffee shop would have. We put a map on the wall here because people pinpoint where they've traveled from. If one in five people in our country has a disability, everybody has a way to connect to that story. And I think Bitty and Beau's Coffee gives people the conversation starter. It helps them step into this world. Whereas maybe they didn't know how to interact with people with disabilities before, now, all of a sudden, there's a safe place to do that.
- I married my Mr. Right almost 26 years ago, and we have four children. Bitty and Beau are our two youngest. And Bitty is nine, and Beau is 14. And they both have Down syndrome.
The idea of opening the shop hit me in November of 2015. It was 500 square feet. It was a labor of love. And it was just kind of a spontaneous-- let's name it Beau's Coffee. When Beau had his 12th birthday, it coincided with us moving into our larger space. And Beau said, we're putting a bigger sign on the building. Let's put Bitty's name on the sign too. And that was his 12th birthday wish.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When Beau was born, Ben and I had no experience with people with Down syndrome. We had spent very little time with people that had intellectual or developmental disabilities. And then I think when Bitty was born, it made us realize that we'd been entrusted with these two amazing lives, and there must be more to it. We needed to do something more to make the world better for Bitty and Beau, but for everybody who has an intellectual or developmental disability.
The coffee shop was really born out of that, thinking how do we multiply that feeling. How do we reach more people with that experience? Currently we employee 80 individuals with disabilities. And that can mean anything from Down syndrome to autism, cerebral palsy. And then we also have a support staff of typically developing employees that are there to support our employees in whatever way they need help. And we're trying to make a point here that people with disabilities can run a profitable and successful coffee shop.
Sadly, 80% of people with disabilities are unemployed. And it's not because they don't want a job. It's because employers have concern that they're not going to be productive or not fit into the workplace. Having a disability doesn't mean you're broken. It just means you have certain challenges that you face. And we all do.
I think that when you have a sense of purpose in the world, it makes you a healthier human being. And for so many people with disabilities that age out of the school system, there is nothing waiting for them. And so when they have a job, and they have a purpose, and they have an identity, it makes them feel good about themselves. And we all know when you feel good about yourselves, you're going to be a healthier, more productive person.
So it's bigger than what's happening here. It's giving them a new sense of identity, and it's helping them blaze their own trail and feel good about themselves. This place isn't about me. It's not about my husband. We feel like we're just the vessels for the work that we've been placed on the Earth to do, and that is to shine a light on these individuals that have been marginalized for so long.
And they are heroes. They really are. I look at them. I look at the obstacles they've overcome. I look at the way they are changing the way the world looks at people with disabilities. If you had asked me three years ago would I see where we are now coming, no. I thought we were going to change our community. I hoped we would.
I had no idea the reach this coffee shop would have. We put a map on the wall here because people pinpoint where they've traveled from. If one in five people in our country has a disability, everybody has a way to connect to that story. And I think Bitty and Beau's Coffee gives people the conversation starter. It helps them step into this world. Whereas maybe they didn't know how to interact with people with disabilities before, now, all of a sudden, there's a safe place to do that.