Category: Client Spotlight

Client Spotlight: Seleste

When Seleste was an intern in EBI’s job training program, she couldn’t have imagined what her life would be like today. At 19, Seleste was living at home with her family in Oakland, participating in internship rotations through Project SEARCH at the County of Alameda, and thinking about future employment possibilities. Maybe, she thought, one day she’d have a job in an office or in a healthcare setting. So when presented with an opportunity to work part-time at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in a clerical position, she began there as a temporary employee, working four hours a day.

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Client Spotlight: Home Support Workers

When Caleb, Ebony, Jordan, Julia, and Siobhan said “YES” to learning about becoming In Home Support Workers, they could not have known what the job would bring to their lives. And when they were assigned to work with elderly persons moving from nursing homes into apartments, the new residents could not have anticipated the connections they’d develop with these first-time caregivers.

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Client Spotlight: Linda

Meet Linda. At 70, she likes listening to music, dancing, cooking, collecting stamps, and coloring. She adores her cats. And she cherishes her independence. Today, the challenges of living on her own are mounting, and while she’s doing her best to keep pace with changing circumstances, it’s a struggle. Chronic health conditions make it necessary for Linda to frequently see health care providers. At the same time, Linda’s elderly sister, her sole support for years, is no longer able to assist with her care.

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Client Spotlight: Hospital Interns

Imagine what it takes to operate a large, urban hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We may think first of doctors and nurses, therapists, and technicians, interacting with patients, working in laboratories, conducting research, etc. There are many more people whose skills contribute to the functioning of a healthcare facility, and included in that group, are individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.

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Client Spotlight: Glenn

For 15 years, Glenn lived on the streets, addicted to heroin and methamphetamine, and seeing family members only when they were able to find him. It was when he was hospitalized for a medical crisis and needed surgery, that he finally accepted help. For the next two years, he recovered in a skilled nursing facility, receiving medical care and physical therapy, hoping to walk again.

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Client Spotlight: Sam

At three years old, Sam suffered a severe asthma attack that left him quadriplegic. When EBI staff met Sam almost 20 years later, he was exiting high school. EBI staff quickly realized that with Sam’s changing needs it was critical that he move to a physically accessible living situation with enough room for his multigenerational family and space for the medical equipment he increasingly needed.

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Client Spotlight: Sharon

“What will happen to her later in life?” In LIFE magazine, December 1996, the Oakland-based photographer, Leon Borensztein, posed this question about his daughter, Sharon. It was important to Leon that Sharon experience a loving, full childhood. For many years, he alone provided the extensive daily care that went along with her having a visual impairment, seizure disorder, and autism. All the while, they spent time exploring and enjoying their Bay Area community.

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Client Spotlight: Ahmed

When Ahmed talks about his childhood, he describes himself as a serious student, a boy who dreamed of one day being a pharmacist. But after he was shot while shopping at an outdoor market, he could no longer attend school. Ahmed was unable to use a wheelchair on streets and in buildings that were inaccessible, and had little opportunity in the war-torn city he lived in to receive the treatment he desperately needed.

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Client Spotlight: Jeanna

Working with toddlers during the week, employed by the Oakland A’s during baseball season, participating in sports year round, enjoying time with her boyfriend, good friends, and close family, Jeanna leads a rich, busy life.

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Client Spotlight: Brianna

When Brianna graduated from EBI’s first Project SEARCH job training class hosted by the County of Alameda, she was ready to go to work. But it took three years after completing Project SEARCH to secure full-time employment.

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