- Dec 26, 1999
- 25,074
- 4
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This made me smile when I read it in the paper today, thought I'd type it out for you guys... 
Janitor With Disability Honored For Work
A man who is learning disabled and once forced to live in a dumpster, was honored yesterday for his refusal to give up on life.
Harry Marquis, 48, who grew up in an abusive mental institution, received the Award for Outstanding Progress in Employment at the annual award ceremony of Work Inc., a Quincy nonprofit organization that teaches job skills and helps with job placement for the disabled."He works extremely hard," said mentor Al Fava Jr. Work Inc.'s assistant vice president of building services, who met Marquis in the early 1990's. "Society kicked him down, and instead of staying down, he said, 'The past is the past and the future is what I make of it.' "Marquis spent his young adulthood in the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, a mental institution where staffers physically and verbally abused him.
"They used to wake him up in the morning, give him a tiny square sponge and make him wash by hand the whole length of a long corridor," Fava said. "It was horrible."
After leaving the school and drifting for nearly a decade - for one six month period he lived in a dumpster - Marquis sought the guidance of Work Inc. Marquis now has worked full time as a janitor for the Williams Coast Guard Building for three years. Marquis said he hopes to inspire others with mental disabilities and to demonstrate to members of the "real world" that people like him can contribute to society. "I'm one of the lucky ones," he said, shrugging. "I can walk. I can talk. I can drive. I know how to pay my bills."
Dunno why, but that made me smile to see good news for once... this was on the 2nd page of the Boston Herald as well, not buried in the middle of it...
Janitor With Disability Honored For Work
A man who is learning disabled and once forced to live in a dumpster, was honored yesterday for his refusal to give up on life.
Harry Marquis, 48, who grew up in an abusive mental institution, received the Award for Outstanding Progress in Employment at the annual award ceremony of Work Inc., a Quincy nonprofit organization that teaches job skills and helps with job placement for the disabled."He works extremely hard," said mentor Al Fava Jr. Work Inc.'s assistant vice president of building services, who met Marquis in the early 1990's. "Society kicked him down, and instead of staying down, he said, 'The past is the past and the future is what I make of it.' "Marquis spent his young adulthood in the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, a mental institution where staffers physically and verbally abused him.
"They used to wake him up in the morning, give him a tiny square sponge and make him wash by hand the whole length of a long corridor," Fava said. "It was horrible."
After leaving the school and drifting for nearly a decade - for one six month period he lived in a dumpster - Marquis sought the guidance of Work Inc. Marquis now has worked full time as a janitor for the Williams Coast Guard Building for three years. Marquis said he hopes to inspire others with mental disabilities and to demonstrate to members of the "real world" that people like him can contribute to society. "I'm one of the lucky ones," he said, shrugging. "I can walk. I can talk. I can drive. I know how to pay my bills."
Dunno why, but that made me smile to see good news for once... this was on the 2nd page of the Boston Herald as well, not buried in the middle of it...
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