Joe Jr.'s life spans the evolution of this country's attitudes toward and treatment of people with disabilities. He was born with Down Syndrome in 1954, and his doctors advised his parents, Joe Sr. and Gloryann Bauer, to place him in an institution. The Bauers refused, and then for three years they fought indifferent doctors for the medical care their son needed to stay alive.

School for Joe Jr. was the basement of a church, where an elderly woman babysat her charges. "He didn't learn a thing except 'please' and 'thank you,' and where to hang up his coat," says his father. At age 18, he began working in a sheltered workshop, putting nuts and bolts together. Joe Jr. and his fellow workshop mates were not allowed to talk to each other. "One day," Joe Sr. recalls, "they ran out of nuts and bolts to put together, so they were told to take them apart." Joe Jr. and his co-workers "all started laughing and talking. They knew it was ridiculous make-work."

Joe Jr. didn't get a real job until he was in his 30s, when the Bauers were living in Manchester, N.H. Samantha Goodall '87, then a UNH Institute on Disability employee working on a statewide demonstration project, interviewed 75 employers until she found a bagel shop that was willing to hire him. "The change in him was dramatic," says his father. "It was like he was saying, 'Gosh darn, I'm somebody.'"

The elder Joe was a participant in the institute's first New Hampshire Leadership Series held in 1988. He credits the program with giving him and Gloryann the confidence to advocate for Joe Jr. "The underlying theme was that parents don't have to be helpless," says Joe Sr. When family-support legislation was pending in Concord that would give parents of children with disabilities respite care, Joe Sr. organized telephone trees to lobby for votes.

Amiable and meticulous, Joe Jr. plays the drums, cracks jokes and follows the antics of professional wrestlers on TV. Mike Bonneau, a companion hired with respite care funds, takes him bicycling, hiking, swimming and to his two jobs at Burger King and Care Pharmacy in Dover, N.H. Joe Jr. likes to surprise people with his new hair color, strawberry blond, courtesy of his indulgent mother. "What do you think of my hair?" he asks, arriving home after a bike ride with Bonneau to find a visitor with his parents at their tidy yellow 19th-century home. "I bet you don't know who did it," he teases.

Looking ahead, Joe Sr. and Gloryann are worried about Joe Jr.'s future. They've investigated the institute's Home of Your Own program, a demonstration project that is now in 23 states. The program helps people with disabilities buy a house and live independently with support from caregivers. They'd like to find a small house in Dover -- their current home requires too much upkeep -- and get Joe Jr. used to his new home while they're still around to help him. But a bullish housing market makes it hard to find a place within their budget. "We love it here, and we hate the idea of moving," says Joe Sr. "But to leave Joe to the capacity and good intentions of a (state) agency gives us no rest." ~

--Meg Torbert

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