Agency to honor disabled founder of recycling business

When, at age 2, John Sheehan barely slept, was particularly hyperactive and had yet to speak, his mother Lorraine knew something was wrong.

She was right. Doctors diagnosed the Edgewater Beach boy with autism, a developmental disability limiting his communication skills and, Ms. Sheehan feared, his possibilities.

"You can well imagine, it (was) absolutely shattering," she said of the diagnosis, adding that her son didn't speak until he was nearly 4.

But Mr. Sheehan, now 37, has since gone on to found a recycling business. He's one of 25 developmentally challenged Marylanders who will be honored tonight.

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