Countywide : Chance for Disabled to Go It Alone

Michael Aguilar uses a wheelchair, but that doesn’t mean he lets his disability get in the way of doing his laundry, cooking his meals or holding down a job.

Aguilar, 25, born with spina bifida, a congenital defect that affects the spine, said his advice to others with physical or mental disabilities is: “If I can do it, you can do it too.”

Aguilar lives in a Costa Mesa apartment--and takes care of himself.

“Who’d want to live in a sheltered environment all their life?” he said.

Living on his own, he said, has made him feel “that I’ve accomplished something in my life.”

Aguilar is among many disabled adults who have opted to live their lives on their own terms--instead of with their parents or in a board and care facility.

Aguilar was helped by Project Independence, a training program that teaches people with disabilities the skills it takes to live and work on their own.

The nonprofit agency, with offices in Anaheim and Costa Mesa, serves 350 adults a month in Orange County and Lakewood and provides training and support in independent living skills and employment, said Carolyn Fox, director of client services.

To celebrate their clients’ accomplishments, Project Independence is holding a picnic Aug. 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley. Those interested in learning more about the program or in becoming a volunteer are invited.

“One of the goals of our program is to educate the public and let them know what they are capable of, instead of focusing on their disabilities,” said Deborah Cheney Varos, community affairs coordinator.

Linda Hull of Costa Mesa, whose son Jeffrey, 26, lives in his own Anaheim apartment, said Project Independence has changed his life.

“In the last four years he has grown and learned so much. He does his laundry, grocery shopping and interacts in the community,” Hull said, adding that her son has a job at a car dealership.

“He’s gone beyond our expectations for him,” she said. “I’m happy he’s doing all these things and he’s living and working independently in the community.”

As part of the agency’s independent living program, clients live in an apartment, usually with one or two roommates, in communities across Orange County and pay their own rent and other living expenses.

Fox said new clients are usually grouped in apartment complexes with other clients to make it easier to attend courses in housekeeping, cooking and nutrition, money management and roommate relations.

Heather Wilson, 21, another Project Independence client, had never lived on her own--until this week.

Wilson said that although it’s scary to be on her own, she moved out of her parents home and into a Costa Mesa apartment with two other women to “get out of the house and do my own stuff like grocery shopping and fixing my own dinner.”

Project Independence clients said what they cherish most is the freedom to make their own decisions about their lives.

For many Project Independence clients, the goal is to one day not need the assistance of the agency.

“I want to go to total independent living--with no one to rely on,” said Robb Warden, 24, who has brain damage from a skateboarding accident when he was 17. “I want to get beyond being (viewed as) a disabled person and just be a person.”