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Group of disabled adults craft business through art in Oklahoma

 
BY ROBERT MEDLEY | Published: November 16, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment

EL RENO — The white coffee mug has the words "I love you for who you are” painted on the side in black letters.

photo - Brandon Smith, center, coordinator of Bee’s Knees, helps a student make a journal at the Canadian County Youth and Family Services Donald W. Reynolds Caring Center in El Reno. Photo by PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, the oklahoman
Brandon Smith, center, coordinator of Bee’s Knees, helps a student make a journal at the Canadian County Youth and Family Services Donald W. Reynolds Caring Center in El Reno. Photo by PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, the oklahoman

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Nov 13Brandon Smith talks about The Bee's Knees, a prgram...

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Bee’s Knees

Coffee mugs, wrapping paper and personal journals are a few of the items made by Bee’s Knees. Items are sold at the Donald W. Reynolds Caring Center at 7565 E State Highway 66 in El Reno. Donations of arts and crafts items are needed. For more information about buying items or donating materials, call

262-6555.

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Bee’s Knees will have a sale at an 11 a.m. Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 23 at the Donald W. Reynolds Caring Center, 7565 E State Highway 66.

The cup is one of the handmade items offered for sale by a group of young adults with disabilities who call themselves Bee’s Knees.

Wrapping paper, mugs and journals with hand-painted covers are made and sold as a way to teach entrepreneurial skills.

Learning to make items for sale brings out the personality of those whom many may only see as a disabled person, said instructor Brandon Smith, 20.

"To see them advance in their social skills, that’s when I feel the most proud,” Smith said. "It gets to the point I don’t see the disability anymore but the personality of the person behind the disability.”

Dee Blose, executive director of Youth and Family Services of Canadian County, had the idea to start a class for high school graduates and other young adults with disabilities to learn to produce and sell their own products.

People with disabilities have challenges in finding traditional employment, Blose said.

"The concept of having your own business lets you be more flexible,” Blose said.

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Related Topics: Health and Fitness, Disabilities



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