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Exceptional care, exceptional result
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Elizabeth Sorokach in Nona's Closet in Liberty.
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Elizabeth Sorokach outside Nona's Closet in Liberty.
Teachers and program directors have helped a Liberty woman overcome many challenges.
LIBERTY — To any customer in Nona’s Family Closet, Elizabeth Sorokach would appear to be the average worker, but Elizabeth and her mother, Nona Sorokach, say a lot of hard work and teaching have gone into that outward appearance.
Elizabeth Sorokach is 29 and virtually independent, but as a young child, she was diagnosed as high functional developmentally handicapped. Nona Sorokach said the mental condition meant a somewhat rough start in school for the young girl.
“[Elizabeth] would get into a class, and it would take half of the school year before she would actually begin to talk to the teachers, and by that time, the class would be almost over,” said Nona.
Elizabeth was placed in special classes in the Liberty school district and says the teachers and students in the system were exceptionally nice and helped her in various ways. Nona is convinced that those understanding teachers and program directors served Elizabeth well throughout her education.
After Liberty High School, Elizabeth was given a caseworker through Trumbull County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to monitor her progress and went on to study human services, marketing, education and hospitality at Trumbull County Career and Technical Center.
Marcia Delaratta, a habilitation coordinator with the Trumbull MRDD’s Fairhaven program, has been working with the mentally disabled for 25 years and sees Elizabeth as an exceptional case. She said many parents allow their mentally challenged kids to work only in workshops designed for the mentally challenged, but Elizabeth is an example of what opportunities can be found in real-world work experience.
Elizabeth has held jobs at Wendy’s Restaurant, The Walnut Creek Cafe, The American Red Cross and Giant Eagle. She still volunteers at Forum Health Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, where she assists patients in wheelchairs as they attend various therapy sessions.
Delaratta said the job experiences Elizabeth has had are part of what makes her case exceptional.
“Some people, just because of the nature of their disability, don’t work well with things like cash registers or tasks that have a lot of things going on at once, but [Elizabeth] has progressed to the point where she can do these things and do them somewhat effortlessly,” she said.
Elizabeth says she still lives at home with her mother but handles her own finances such as checkbook balancing and bill payments. She has also tackled something that most people take for granted, but doctors said she would likely never do — completely independent driving.
Nona looks at her daughter, who doctors said would never progress past the capabilities of a 13-year-old child, and she smiles. She said her message to parents is simple.
“You just have to have faith in the system. Without all the help from the Trumbull [County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities] and Fairhaven [School], this would have been a much harder road to tow. They have really walked us through the phases of her life,” she said.
Elizabeth volunteers her time at her mother’s clothing boutique. The mother-and-daughter team has plans for Elizabeth someday taking over the business — something they see as a definite possibility.
jgoodwin@vindy.com