Gary Kaplan, M.D., Ph. D.

Wendy Kaplan, M.S. in Ed.

Co-Directors of SustainAbility Services, Inc.

With every phase of our journey as parents of a daughter with autism, we have learned to search for resources that would be helpful to our daughter’s development, and when there are none to be found, to join with others to create them. When our daughter reached adulthood, we started SustainAbility Services because we saw the need for an organization that would work on staffing, residential and employment needs for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.  Our first project has been an organic farm, which came out of our daughter’s request to live and work on a farm.  The farm has exceeded our expectations by providing work that is both necessary and beautiful. Moreover, the farmers’ experiences in increasing their willingness to do different farm chores, work independently, and stay at the tasks for increasing periods of time, have gone beyond our wildest dreams of what success might look like.  And, of course, we are in constant amazement at the delicious produce our farmers grow.

Like most parents of children with autism, we looked upon our daughter becoming an adult with equal parts of dread of the unexplored challenge ahead and questioning of what would be possible for her. The farm has provided a setting in which she can be a productive, happy adult, and that is what we had only dared to hope for her.