California Woman Owns and Operates Vintage Clothing Store – Asperger’s Job Story
The idea for “Bad Girl Designs”, a vintage clothing store owned and operated by Gabrielle Lopez in Bakersfield, California, actually came from her husband. Rather than make Gabrielle toss out the piles of vintage clothing and antiques she had purchased at garage sales, he helped her set up shop to sell them. That was three years ago. The store still isn’t profitable, but Gabrielle loves running it and is determined to make it a success. Gabrielle also sells pop culture-inspired accessories that she makes herself.
Asperger’s Syndrome creates challenges for Gabrielle that most store-owners don’t have to deal with. For instance, she has trouble making eye contact with her customers. But she apologizes and explains why: “…when I look at you, I can’t hear you. It’s the Asperger’s.”
When Gabrielle was 8, her mother noticed she was different from her peers, but despite evaluations by numerous experts, Gabrielle is the one who ultimately diagnosed herself. She was researching her master’s thesis on bipolar children in mainstream classrooms, and came across a description of Asperger’s. She recognized the symptons in herself and “Suddenly, it all made sense”
Read the original and complete article written by Courtenay Edelhart here. (Photo at left by John Harte.)
The article is very diverse in nature and speaks descriptively about the details. A must read post.