Top of page
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.

You might also like

woman in wheelchair with colleagues working in office woman in wheelchair with colleagues working in office

More persons with disabilities looking for employment

The June 2026 National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) report…

young woman in wheelchair with colleagues working in office young woman in wheelchair with colleagues working in office

DOL announces 2026 National Disability Employment Awareness Month theme

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy announced…

Teenage Girls Having Conversation Using Sign Language Teenage Girls Having Conversation Using Sign Language

UK launches recruitment drive to tackle backlog in disability work scheme

Tens of thousands of persons with disabilities needing support to…

woman in wheelchair working in an office woman in wheelchair working in an office

Employment of persons with disabilities declines, near record high

The May 2026 National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) report…