Mentally disabled weavers lose funds

OCCOQUAN, Va. | In a riverside town full of boutiques, Spinaweb is unique.

Its hand-woven placemats, baptismal towels and women's apparel are rare enough in an age when so many things are stamped “Made in China.”

But what makes the shop special is that - unknown to casual browsers - its finely crafted products are the work of intellectually disabled weavers, whose efforts have been subsidized by Prince William County for the past 26 years.

Suddenly, recession-induced cuts to the county budget have made the future a lot less certain for the shop's eight weavers, who have had to confront the possibility of joblessness or janitorial and cleaning jobs.

A total shutdown has been averted with the emergence of alternative financing that will keep Spinaweb workers employed four days a week. And there are indications the county will reconsider its decision to cut off the funding.

But for weavers such as Michelle Paules, the uncertainly has added one more affliction to an already difficult life.

One day last week, she sat at her loom smiling constantly behind her small wire-rimmed glasses.

Miss Paules, 37, who has worked at Spinaweb for 15 years, seemed to move in slow motion. Her short legs strained to work the pedal as she crafted a white baptismal towel stitch by stitch.

“I'm doing good,” she said faintly to her longtime boss, Spinaweb superviser Erna Gilker. She proudly patted the ream of white fabric with the stubby fingers of her good hand, the left. Her right hand is too weak for work such as cleaning, which Arc of Greater Prince William also offers.

“She hates snow days. She would come to work sick if she could,” said Mrs. Gilker. “She loves to work.”

Idling these weavers for a day threatens their well-being because they likely will be inactive and without the social interaction they get from working at Spinaweb and going to lunch or to the post office in Occoquan.

“They are really woven into the fabric of the community,” said Karen Smith, executive director of Arc of Greater Prince William. “Shopkeepers there embrace them and help them develop appropriate social skills.

“They have a tough time sometimes filling their day with appropriate activities,” she said.

Miss Paules' mother, Linda, attending a county budget hearing last week with dozens of Arc supporters, said not working at Spinaweb “would break her heart. It would mean sitting and watching soap operas all day.”

Mrs. Paules asked her daughter what she would do if she couldn't work at the shop.

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