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Education and Employment

Coffee shop hires people with developmental disabilities

Staff posing for a picture
Photo: Bitty and Beau's

The community is celebrating a new coffee shop ‘Bitty & Beau’s’ in Annapolis, that employs teens and adults with developmental disabilities.

Bitty & Beau’s coffee shop, a North Carolina-based business, founded by Amy Wright and Ben Wright her husband that is unique for its hiring policy: exclusively employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism.

Amy and Ben Wright, named the coffee shop after two of their children, Bitty and Beau, who both have Down syndrome.

The Annapolis cafe is their fifth location.

“It sort of means family to me because they are a family to me and everybody else. They hire people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” said Michael Heup, an employee at Bitty and Beau’s.

For some employees, the coffee shop is life-changing. For more information, go to their website.

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