Breaking Away : ‘Mainstreaming’: Program gives special education student a chance at independence by letting her live in a dormitory at San Diego State University.

Marisa Mullendore has quickly adjusted to the swing of things in her dormitory at San Diego State University.

The 21-year-old San Diegan likes being able to put burritos into the refrigerator in her room, play pool with her roommate, take breakfast by herself at the SDSU West Commons, and rock the night away in dance marathons.

Marisa also religiously totes her Star Trek book when she ventures around the residence hall. It’s part of a dorm contest to encourage studying by having students carry a book when in the halls or lounge.

But Marisa’s stab at independent living isn’t that of a typical undergraduate, because Marisa is not an SDSU student. She’s a special education student from San Diego city schools.

Marisa moved into Zapotec Hall last month to learn how she can live on her own and prepare for life as a working adult.

Her dorm experience highlights a growing trend by educators to give severely handicapped students more of a chance to participate in “regular” society.

“It’s integration, it’s normalization,” said Al Reitman, a transition and job development teacher for special education students at Morse High School, where Marisa has studied for four years.

“We’re trying to show that young adults like Marisa have more options to be part of regular society than what they’ve previously been given credit for,” he said.

The so-called “mainstreaming” into society of such students parallels the effort in public schools to put handicapped students into as many regular courses as possible.

“We sat down in the case of Marisa and asked ourselves what young adult folks her age are doing,” said Mary Ellen Sousa, co-director of a new SDSU agency to expand the alternatives available to people like Marisa.

Marisa had been living in a group home, together with several women in their late 50s and early 60s also classified as severely handicapped--a label that covers a wide spectrum of learning disabilities.

The group arrangement restricted attempts by Marisa to increase her independence. A van took everyone to their jobs at the same time, the group ate meals at the same time, and they all took vacations or outings at the same time, Reitman said.

“But Marisa’s not 50 years old,” he said. “In that situation, she couldn’t date, she wasn’t allowed to go out, because the other ladies couldn’t go out. She had no chance to express herself.”

Cutting the inevitable red tape, Sousa’s agency--Creative Support Alternatives--persuaded state and local mental health administrators, as well as university housing people, that the dorm arrangement would be both an exciting and realistic option for Marisa.

After more than half a year of negotiations, Sousa and Reitman were able to line up Zapotec Hall for Marisa. Sousa said it’s the first example in the state of using college dorm life for such transitions.

“I like it a lot,” Marisa said recently. “It makes me feel like home.”

The tall, lithe student favors her brunette hair short, tortoise shell glasses, stylish earrings and a denim jacket emblazoned with “Squadron Club 58” on the back.

“There are pizza parties, pool games, movies we can watch with some of the girls,” she said. On Wednesday nights, Marisa goes across campus to the 99-cent Supper Club dinner sponsored by an ecumenical coalition of three religious organizations. She takes the bus three times a week to her permanent part-time job at the Mann Theater complex in College Grove.

“I have surprised myself a lot at how much I can do for myself,” Marisa said.

But Sousa stresses that the effort is called support transition. And that’s where Marisa’s roommate, SDSU junior psychology major Tina Rodriguez, comes in.

“Tina helps Marisa when she needs some help on how to make decisions,” Sousa said. Sousa advertised this summer for “a terrific SDSU student” who wanted to be a companion to someone with a disability. The position is similar to that of residence hall adviser except it involves extra responsibility for only one student.

Tina said she and Marisa have become close friends.

“It’s a regular relationship, with a little twist, I guess,” Tina said. “She does really well in watching out for herself, but if she needs a bit of advice or wants to know something, I’m there for her.” Tina gets paid a stipend from state money available for Marisa that formerly would have been used to pay for a group home.

The two things that still frustrate Marisa a bit are her inability to set the alarm clock and to turn on the room heater.

“I get up at 6:02 a.m. every day,” Marisa said, “but I haven’t figured out the alarm yet.”

“What we are after is a way to give people like Marisa more natural forms of support,” Sousa said. “We think that it’s a myth to believe that there is safety only in group situations. It keeps them away from interesting lives.”

That means, for example, that instead of having a special van take her to and from any and all activities, Marisa learns how to take the bus and call for the SDSU escort service at night when going to and from campus programs.

“The van is what other 21-year-olds use, and we believe that Marisa--and many other adults like her--can do the same thing,” Sousa said.

Sousa’s agency is an outgrowth of SDSU’s Interworks Institute, an interdisciplinary academic group that promotes the inclusion of both mentally and physically disabled people in the regular community.

“In a lot of places around the country, the idea of supported living, of less labeling of these folks, is still controversial,” Sousa said. “But a lot of programs are moving in that direction.”

The dormitory is only one of a variety of independent living situations that Sousa’s group will consider for students such as Marisa.

Marisa plans to take an aerobics class, and perhaps a non-credit one in writing, at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies after she graduates from Morse High in January. In a few years, she hopes to get an apartment “with someone who is about my age,” she said.

Already, Marisa’s experience has aroused excitement and anticipation among some of her classmates at Morse that they too can look forward to more than group living and work situations.

“San Diego is one of the leaders in the country for integration,” said special education teacher Skip Miller, who works with Reitman.

Reitman said Marisa’s experiences show not only other students but their parents that there are other choices.

“We have a need to show parents that the mainstreaming can work,” Reitman said.

“Many parents are fearful at first, they’re hesitant, but as examples like Marisa become known, there develops peer pressure to expand,” he said. “I just feel that these students can do much more if we back them with the needed help.”