Debra Dixon

DEPTFORD TWP. -- Three years ago, Debra Dixon thought her life was over.

After a monitor fell on her head and knocked her unconscious at work, she suffered from memory problems that made it impossible to keep her job as a manager of Burger King in Deptford.

''At first, when my accident happened, I thought my whole life had stopped,'' Dixon said.She spent time in the hospital and went through therapy, but nothing helped her regain the jobs skills she once had.

But then Dixon started working at the Abilities Center, an organization that employs and trains people with disabilities and other disadvantages. ''I just feel like a normal person now.''

Dixon, 44, works at a bagel shop that is owned by the center where she has learned the basics of holding a job in food preparation, like working with customers and taking job orders.Dixon's supervisor helps her to do things that are more difficult because of the accident in June 1996.

''My mind comes and goes,'' Dixon said. ''I don't remember things as well as I used to.''

Dixon, who has a cropped hair cut and a wide smile, was working behind the counter last week at the restaurant.She said sometimes it is difficult to accept orders because she used to be the one in charge.Now working at the bagel shop has given her a reason to move on from the accident.

''I have more good days than I do bad days,'' Dixon said. ''I'm a pusher.I'm up at the crack of dawn ready to go to the bagel store.''

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Bagelicious, where Dixon works, is a small cafe open to the public on Delsea Drive in Westville directly in front of the Abilities Center.The supervisors are staff of the center and the workers are consumers of the program.It serves as a half-way point where consumers like Dixon experience working in the community with the shelter of the center's staff on hand.

Most of the program's consumers work in a large, one-story building behind the plaza where the bagel shop is located.Inside, many consumers complete simple tasks that are contracted out from real companies.They also complete training programs that teach them basic job skills, like dressing appropriately or showing up on-time.
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Dixon, who works at the bagel shop, said she is planning to someday return to working in the community.She hopes to get a license to prepare food so she can open her own business some day.But for now, she is focusing on the steps that will help her earn more independence.

''I feel so good because she (her supervisor) gave me the job of making the homemade soup everyday,'' Dixon said.