“Whatever you believe, you bring to life … so speak into existence what you want to do.”

So goes the poem Believe, by David, 23. With support from Ability Beyond, David is heeding his own wisdom—manifesting the successful, independent adulthood that he wants.

“Success and independence are similar,” said David, who lives and works in New York. “To get to them, you can’t let a challenge stop you. It’s like walking in a long, dark tunnel, but there is grass on the other side. You can either see the darkness and turn back, or you can see what’s after it, and keep going.”

David has kept going.

Just a few years ago, David graduated from high school into an upside-down adult world, in the midst of a pandemic. Now he lives in a community-based group home, has been working at Party City for a year, and looks forward to getting his own apartment one day.

“David is very persistent, very attentive, and very big on wanting to do things on his own,” said Employment Specialist Madelyn Sabatino. “He is moving more in that direction each day, with support and positive reinforcement from his family, our team, and his group home provider.”

One Step at a Time

David first connected with Ability Beyond in 2020, right out of high school. However, given the state of the world, he chose to press pause on employment to develop his independence at home. A few years later, David re-connected with us to find his first job—and he hasn’t looked back.

“He was ready this time,” said Dwayne Moore, Career Development Program Manager. “He turned up for those meetings with Madelyn, whether it was for Workplace Readiness, Self-Advocacy, or his internship.”

David was quick and eager to learn: about interviews and how to ace them, principles of time management, how to handle responsibilities at work, and how to navigate different scenarios that might come up in different environments. But finding an internship wasn’t easy.

“One of the major things I needed for success was persistence,” David said. “I had to keep trying a couple of times before I found a job. Sometimes they are looking for a different person than you, and you can’t be the best at everything.”

Eventually David secured an internship at Party City in Mount Kisco. Then he impressed the team so much, they hired him as an employee before the internship was over. At the store, he’s known for being hardworking, polite, great with customers, and replete with silly jokes.

“David is part of the family here,” said Joe Corti, Store Team Leader. “Not only is he reliable and easy to work with, but he wants to learn and take on more responsibility.”

Growing with the Seasons

When multiple deliveries are made to refill the store’s inventory each week, David is in charge.

“Believe it or not, Party City is a really intense job, and a lot has to be organized on the back-end,” Joe said. “That’s David’s area of expertise. He makes sure what comes off the trucks gets sorted and stocked as fast as humanly possible. It’s a stocking position, but he does it with a great interaction with customers. He loves talking to people.”

David did not start out with this level of responsibility, but when Joe joined the Party City team, he recognized David’s strengths and potential.

“He stood out immediately when I came to the building, and I knew that he was capable of doing a lot more,” he said. “I see even bigger things for him in the future.”

So does the team at Ability Beyond. Madelyn said a few things make David stand out, including his strong communication skills and his eagerness to work. Her job, she said, has been to help him see those capabilities for himself, while encouraging him to persist—even when the going gets tough.

And David is no stranger to tough times. They include the passing of his father when he was a child. In his poem “Thanks for the Strength,” he writes:

Dear my difficulties,
I’m writing to you once more.
To thank you for something I haven’t thought of before.
I thought At first, that you were nothing good for me.
But after our Battle something happened I forgot to see.

Now, David is thriving at work and at home. He’s even the go-to leader when young adults with disabilities come to receive workplace training at Party City.

“There are no disappointments at my job,” David said. “So it’s hard to choose a favorite part. But it’s probably helping other people.”

Take Action

Because of his determination and Ability Beyond’s assistance, David is thriving in his new job, and his hopes for the future are high. We help more than 1,750 people each year meet their employment goals. Do what you can to help us today so we can help more people like David reach for their dreams.