I found a cafe named Downey’s in Amersfoort which is run by a family and their son Arjan with Down syndrome. There are several Down syndrome people working in the cafe as well as volunteers who support them. However the Down syndrome people have to pay for their labour to the cafe, which in return supplies them with a form of traineeship.

I have been developing a project about Downey’s cafe in Amersfoort in the framework of Grand Domestic Revolution with Casco since October 2009. The synopsis was inspired by an article that I read in the magazine Vanity Fair in 2007. The story goes that Arthur Miller (1915-2005) had hidden his son with Down syndrome, named Daniel Miller (1966- ) and he left some fortunes to Daniel by changing his will before his death. According to the article, his son, who was born to his third wife, Inge Morath (1926-2002), was not only placed in a state institution in Connecticut, but had never been visited by his father. Arthur Miller did not mention Daniel even in Timebends (1987), his autobiography, and kept Daniel’s existence hidden from any public place or event. Daniel Miller has lived a nearly independent life partly with the government support, but since he received inheritance from his father, he is in an odd situation where he might have to return all the subsidies to the government.