Woman's Dream of Autism Center Doused by Officials
Courtni Laughlin is trying to open a center for adults suffering from autism. (Photo by: Rex Dalton)
Posted: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 7:03 am | Updated: 9:56 am, Tue Nov 19, 2013.
With her long-held goal in sight, Courtni Laughlin left Placentia City Hall last July with a new permit to create a nonprofit training center for adults with autism, Down syndrome and similar disorders.
The 23-year-old earned a child-adolescent development degree from Cal State Fullerton, has been working and volunteering with individuals with autism for a decade and even helped establish a special education program in Nairobi, Kenya.
Now she is trying to open the No Limits Learning Center, which would provide life skills to high-functioning adults with such challenges. She signed a lease and has spent $40,000 converting a former mattress showroom into classrooms.
But she has hit a bureaucratic wall. Placentia and the Orange County Fire Authority repeatedly changed requirements, then she couldn’t secure the necessary fire safety