Milton
Works
Because We Do
Interviews
and Photographs by Sara Pulit, Mai Ann Healy, and Siobhan Atkins
David
DiPesa
Flik Food Services
I work 30 hours a week and I get here at 8 o’clock
every morning. I get up at 6 o’clock. At work I take out the trash and
sometimes put the mats down. It’s not too bad. Some days are more
difficult than other days. I usually get a ride home. I walk here and
then sometimes, if it’s bad weather, Joe [Jensen, the baker] or someone
else will give me a ride home. When I’m not working, I go out to the
movies or something like that. Once in a while I’ll go bowling. I
actually have a group thing where a couple times a month we do
different activities - movies, bowling, you name it.
I actually used to work here eighteen or twenty years ago for DAKA but
then I left for another job but then came back here four or five years
ago. I like the job. I like the idea of getting the vacations that the
other jobs don’t usually get. If I worked at a regular office job, for
example, I would be lucky to get one week off a year. And plus, I still
have my evenings free. Thankfully, I don’t have a job where I work till
midnight and then by the time you get home it’s one o’clock in the
morning. Some people have jobs that are like that. I also work at the
Hadley Country Club in Scituate during the summer every year. There, I
take out the trash. I usually work nights- 3 o’clock in the afternoon
till whatever time they close, usually at 8 or 9 o’clock. On a Friday
or Saturday night they might go till 10 o’clock. They don’t go as late
as a regular restaurant because it’s a club and they can’t play golf
after a certain time at night.
I have four brothers and four sisters, and quite a few nieces and
nephews. In fact a couple of them are in the Lower School. One of them
I don’t get to see but I will get to see a lot of another next year. My
brothers and sisters do sports. Sometimes I get to see them. I see them
more in the summer than I do in the winter.
I wrote a book, “What It’s Like to be David.” I speak at different
schools about my disability. The book is about ten pages long. It talks
about what I do when I get up in the morning, or when I go bowling.
A couple months ago, I talked to kids here [at Milton] about my
disability, and certain things I can do. I don’t like to use the word
“retarded.” I like the words “special needs.” Using “retarded” is just
as bad as calling a black person a bad word. I go to talk at various
different schools and sometimes I even get paid for it. I talk to
students to teach them about prejudice. They’re usually about 6 or 7 or
8 years old. They ask me a lot of wrestling questions too, because I’m
a big wrestling fan.
