Coffee Is Break for Disabled Workers

Alexandra Settas remembers being told that she wasn’t qualified to work the cash register of a South County fast food restaurant.

Her bosses kept her behind the scenes, taking out trash and making coffee. But, with her buoyant personality, Settas wanted to chat with customers at the counter.

“They told me I was too stupid to work in front,” said Settas, a 21-year-old Laguna Hills resident who has impaired hearing and a slight learning disability. “Those are the words they used.”

Now, after two months working in an office complex at a coffee cart operated by Vocational Visions, a nonprofit job training center for the developmentally disabled in Mission Viejo, Settas said she’s glad most of her customers aren’t like her ex-bosses.

“Most everybody is real nice,” she said with a big smile. “If they are rude, I just go on. It’s like, ‘OK, next victim.’ ”

The coffee cart is Vocational Visions’ first attempt to run its own outside business to provide job training for its students. The center usually solicits local companies and corporations to provide work for about 250 students with disabilities ranging from mild to severe.

Owning the business allows the center to train students more patiently in an actual work environment without the added pressure and stress of working for a company, said Suzanne Allen, a job coach with Vocational Visions.

The center also can take steps to make the job easier, such as modifying the cash register by adding buttons that represent different types of coffee and food items.

The cart was purchased with donations and opened at a Mission Viejo office complex near the center about two months ago.

Settas and fellow Vocational Visions student Chad Bowser were hired to run the cart, and Allen said both are “doing extremely well. They are handling the job with no problems.”

In the future, Settas wants to teach sign language. But for now, helping to run the coffee cart puts money in her pocket and gives her confidence.

Vocational Visions “taught me things like how to run the cash register,” Settas said. “It’s not what I want to be, but it’s good for now.”