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Sept-Oct 2001 Roy Sauceda, manager of The Arc San Francisco training program: “This is a population that needs and deserves to be treated as normal. Maybe some of their cognitive skills are lower than other people’s, but you see normal people who walk the streets who can’t read, and no one holds it against them. “The job can be challenging, to teach people new ways to do things. Even if they don’t get it completely right, just to see somebody learn something is the greatest pleasure I get out of doing this. It is basically hands on. It is understanding a person’s learning style, which is true about teaching anybody anything. You pick up on their strengths. Some people learn quicker by verbal instruction and some you have to do hand-to-hand modeling, and some take a combination of both. Patience is what it takes most. For example, we have one person who speaks Russian. I have no problem communicating with him. I don’t speak Russian, but it is a lot of hand modeling, gestures, and body language. “Provided with opportunities, most people can change; most people can advance in life. A lot of people that come here feel good because they are actually producing something. They are doing something and that is rewarding. I’ve seen it make a big difference. I’ve seen people come in quiet, and then become vocal and demonstrative. I’ve seen people come from the training to getting clerical jobs with the city.”
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Roy
Sauceda