by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

February 19, 2009

This year, for the first time, February is National Jewish Disability Awareness Month. To mark the month, NJJN is publishing a series of articles on special-needs families and programs. Last week: synagogue religious schools. Next week: older adults with special needs.

Down a narrow corridor exploding with color, painted canvases large and small line the walls. Behind one door, Aaron, a middle-aged man is seated before his canvas, painting with the help of an aide. He smells the brushes to decide which to use. Nearby in the art studio, Jay stands before a large canvas hung on the wall, chooses a paintbrush, and continues where he left off the work begun in a previous session. Music plays softly in the background, and there is little talking. This is the inner sanctum, the sacred space, of the WAE Center, where clients express themselves through art in ways they often cannot with words. Some use loud colors applied in bold brushstrokes; others paint specific images, like a car with numbers and words, over and over again.

This is the WAE (Wellness, Arts & Enrichment) Center in West Orange, which offers a place for individuals with disabilities of all kinds to be creative and take part in dozens of different activities. It specializes in serving people with Asperger Syndrome.

Daniel M. has become an assistant in the art studio. Three of his portraits — which he creates using colored pencils — hang in the corridor gallery. His work usually begins with a provocative title, and distinctive figures illustrate his theme. He tells a visitor he hopes to be a professional artist. He also writes; he has self-published a book of poetry and is working on a story “about a boy being pursued by a monster in a small town. I hope it will be interesting,’ says Daniel; “thank you.” Having stepped outside the art studio to chat with a visitor, he hurries back inside, apparently torn between being sociable and wanting to retreat.

Next door, a group of about 20 sit in a circle, singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” while staff member Alex Tyshkov strums along on guitar and Mark points at the words to the song.

In a nearby open space, Daniel G. takes over, offering running commentary on the film The Jazz Singer, which he and several others are watching.

And in a quiet corner, the sun streaming above them through a long window, Kevin, who has a journal in his lap, is working one-on-one with staff person Randy Harris on a poem about a guitar. At the moment a visitor joins them, Kevin is writing.

“I like guitar,” writes Kevin. “What else do you like?” asks Harris. Kevin has obvious difficulty forming and making sounds, but puts in the effort with Harris. He is happy to take a short break and speak with a visitor, albeit slowly. “I love music; my favorite song is ‘Heart of Gold.’” He manages to sings a few bars before returning to his poetry.

Among the other activities the WAE Center provides for its adult and teenage clients, age 16 and up, are drumming circles, meditation exercises, piano lessons, sculpture instructions, a reading circle, Pilates, theater arts, and walking trips. A Sunday Judaic Studies Program is also offered, as well as a morning Shabbat service combined with an afternoon Shabbat activity once a month at B’nai Shalom.

The six-year-old program, sponsored by the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest, has been housed at B’nai Shalom, a synagogue in West Orange, since 2004, when it received a three year grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. Before that it was a roving pilot program, offering services at schools in the area or JSDD office space, and cost little to nothing to run.

Today, the WAE Center serves 125 clients both on site and at area schools, where staff provide yoga and meditation. Clients may participate for anywhere from one to five days per week at the WAE Center, with programs running from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. After 2, special sessions, music or a book club, for example, are offered. Sessions run for 12 weeks at a time year-round.

The center is the vision of director Marilynn Schneider, who got her inspiration, she said, from getting to know clients at JSDD and other facilities. Her philosophy is simple: “It’s all based on relationships, the individual, and their development. Our goal is finding the spark within — what’s important to a person. What do they want? What makes them feel comfortable? And one of the basic ways we create it, just like with you and me, is through relationships: being heard, being present with each person.”

The WAE Center began with yoga, speaking circles, and art. When the center moved into its current home, Schneider added mediation and horticulture. But as a more diverse clientele came in, particularly those with Asperger Syndrome, Schneider added other activities by request. “Their desire was music, lyrics, composing, writing books, theater, film — all these other things.” Facilitators were brought in as staff to implement these added courses.

‘Take your time’

Mornings at the WAE Center begin with meditation. As assistant director Elaine Schenkel begins with a gong, the room quiets down; the participants have all kinds of disabilities, from obvious severe developmental disability and Down syndrome, to various levels on the autism spectrum, including Asperger’s. As she speaks, a calm settles over the room. The clients follow her instruction; even those with the most movement seem more relaxed as she continues. Some repeat her words. They close their eyes; they “plant their feet into the ground like a tree.” And they are quiet as she guides them through the meditation.

Some, like Robert, choose to not participate. He sits quietly in the back, working intently with LEGO blocks. By the time the meditation ends, he has created a replica of a zoetrope, an early movie camera that can be held and spun.

As Schenkel opens a conversation about various countries, geography, language, and culture, Robert ventures into the circle to join in. No one is distracted when Ben walks across the room. He is almost nonverbal but holds hands with his favorite staff member. Everyone in the circle marvels at what is obviously his infrequent communication. Jessica begins to articulate her excitement over an upcoming trip — except she can’t seem to find the name of her island destination. The group waits patiently as she digs for it. She points, as on a map, but still, it doesn’t come. Joemary, seated across the room in her wheelchair, offers encouragement: “Don’t worry, take your time.” But her effort is interrupted by one person in the circle who gently offers, “Bahamas.” Jessica gently scolds him, “You took my word!” The group laughs, and he is clearly forgiven — but it’s a mistake he won’t make again.

As the conversation draws to a close, the day’s loose structure takes over. Joemary will help a staff member conduct a Spanish class, since she is fluent. At Mark's suggestion, a staff person will take a group for a walk. Others will watch a film, or head into the art center to paint or draw.

The WAE Center is open to anyone with a disability. “The only criterion is that you have to want to come,” said Schneider.

There are plenty of challenges, from meeting a budget to managing clients on every level, to ensuring that everyone can access the center. Schneider estimates the cost of running the WAE Center at $300,000 per year. The center is self sustaining, and all costs are covered by tuition, which runs anywhere from $80 to $120 a day, and fees for the after-2 p.m. sessions, which usually cost $50 each. The center also receives some grants for specific programs.

Some clients pay out of pocket, and there are also subsidies and scholarships, but nobody is turned away. “The center is very flexible,” said Schenkel. “We work with people wherever they are, whatever they can afford to pay.”

There are about 15 people on staff, but none works full time. Those working at the center all seem as dedicated and focused on the clients as Schneider is. She acknowledged being very selective in whom she hires. “There has to be synchronicity,” she said.

Schneider’s focus never wavers from the clients — perhaps that’s because they gave her the idea to start the WAE Center in the first place. She came to JSDD in 1999 as Judaic coordinator and chaplain and became residential director in 2001.

“It’s the clients who showed me how much they like to be part of the world. They were wonderful and brilliant, and the idea of having a relationship with people was so important. And I saw the talent that was there. And I said, you know, I need to be putting something together that speaks to this.”

Ultimately, Schneider said, she would like to move into a larger space so activities could be available throughout the day, so clients could paint, or meditate, or do yoga whenever they want to. Currently, the space at B’nai Shalom is limited to a large hallway with a coatroom, an anteroom, a corridor, the small art studio, and the large multi-purpose room.

For now, she’s happy to have the center as it is and enjoy the progress of her clients. A men’s group is about to start, enabling five higher functioning clients to socialize and take part in activities together, which she thinks is just amazing. “A year ago, they said they would never go someplace with another person — only by themselves. Now they are saying, ‘Yeah, I could do that.’ That’s enormous.”

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Daniel G.

DANIEL G., A CLIENT at the WAE Center, will tell you, ‘I’m a musician by profession.” Ask him what he plays, and he says, “All the instruments — in my imagination. I love to think about it. I do violin, trumpet, alto sax. The trumpet I use for angry feelings. Alto sax is for pleasure and more general concerts.” Daniel also likes musicals. “They are different from movies. Movies have scary characters. Scary things happen. I hate all sports, especially baseball, especially because I can’t do it. I hate traveling because I prefer to stay close to home.”

Daniel, 26, lives in Teaneck. Before coming to the WAE Center two years ago, he spent most of his time at home, on the computer, listening to records, and watching television. “You can only have that for so long at home by yourself. I came here. I have a schedule, something to do.”

He calls the pre-WAE Center period “three years of boredom.”

He loves talking about anything having to do with music and show business. Of the great Broadway stars, he says, “I know all of them. We’re on a first-name basis. You know my friend Fred Rogers? ‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,’” giving his rendition of the theme song of the children’s TV show Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

Daniel explains why he doesn’t like country music. “It brings back bad memories — camp in what they call the country, but it’s really in the Catskills and I’m a city boy.” After describing the “four big atrocities in music,” hip-hop, punk, heavy metal, and rap, he returns to musicals. Asked if he likes Ethel Merman, he says he knows Ethel Zimmerman, offering the late star’s original name. His favorite show? “Fiddler,” he says with a sigh. And his favorite character? “Oh, Tevye.”

The conversation comes to a close; shortly, Daniel will be joined by a rabbi, and the two will become engrossed in a discussion of the week’s Torah portion.

—JOHANNA GINSBERG

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