ABSTRACT
The Bittersweet Farms Life Skills day program began in the summer of 1981 on the eighty acres newly purchased by the Autistic Community of Northwest Ohio for the purpose of developing a residential program for autistic adults. The day program began as a one-year pilot program jointly funded by the Ohio Department of Agricultural Education and the Toledo Public Schools’ Department of Adult Education. The Farm Life Skills program provides a model of rural farm living in a group setting for individuals with developmental disabilities and other handicaps in the Toledo area. Farmstead work provides both prevocational and vocational training for students in a range of simple to complicated tasks which provides a challenge for each student. Many have attested to the value of swimming as the near-perfect activity for autistic adults. Back-packing affords an excellent opportunity to live for a few days in intimate contact with nature and to reduce the intermediaries between ourselves and survival.
