Paula DiFabio Fasciano ’86 Helps People with Disabilities Find Work Through Bucks Bakery

The following contains excerpts from an article originally published in the Doylestown Patch. Read the full article here >> 

Paula DiFabio Fasciano ’86 is helping people with disabilities find employment and learn skills at Bake Ability, a Bucks County Bakery.

Her son Matthew, now 24, was born with a condition known as Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by mild-to-moderate intellectual disability. When he turned 21, she sought employment for him, but quickly learned that was easier said than done.

Fasciano and her friend Suzette Koller, another mother of a child with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and a baker, learned that a local bakery owner was selling space in the Buckingham Green Shopping Center. Fasciano, who works three jobs, collected enough money to purchase the space. After reading about businesses that found success by employing adults with disabilities, she jumped at the opportunity to follow the model and start a new business.

While Fasciano and Koller are at the bakery most days, they are volunteers. Each of the 15 employees have some form of intellectual disability, Fasciano said.

Bake Ability is located at 4950 York Road in Buckingham Township, and open Wednesday through Sunday, 8 am to 3 pm.

Image via Doylestown Patch