Re: ICs with developmentally disabled adults | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: James Kacki (jimkackimts.net) | |
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:39:17 -0700 (PDT) |
L'Arche communities.This falls outside typical co-housing interpretations, but it is an interesting model to show one end of the scale re/ community living with developmentally challenged adults. That is the 'L'Arche' communities. The organization was started by Jean Vanier, a genuine humanitarian and spiritual human being. It started I believe with his experiences with specific mentally challenged adults. He concluded that the most important thing for these people to receive was love, and a home filled with love. There are now dozens (hundreds perhaps) of L'Arche communities around the world. It usually consists of a house with 3-5 mentally challenged (called residents, I believe) and an equal number of assistants, living together, full time. The assistants live at the house, everyone eats and cooks together. The residents often have jobs that they are taken to. The assistants receive no salary, but receive a living allowance. Some of the assistants that I have seen are young people who sometimes move on after several years and sometimes stay. But they all seem to be doing it with love as the prime motivator. Part of Jean Vanier's vision was that as the assistants give love to the residents, they receive an equal or greater love in return. There is probably a web-site if anyone wants to know more about these communities.
James Lavinia Weissman wrote:
Please feel free to schedule a phone call with me by phone. This is a such a broad topic and you need to really respond to people who are "other abled" specific to their unique needs, if they are able to live mainstream. There are now programs for autistic adults to live in homes in community and I am aware that the Town of Lexington residents organized a home for brain injured residents who could no longer rely on their parents to live with. I say you have to really think, because the term disabled or developmentally disabled is a catch all phrase for a wide range to things you need to think about as simple as if they can cook, shop and count money and have jobs. I think in cohousing we have a real opportunity in smaller communities to uniquely respond to these dilemma's and not just hang a label with a procedure or method. I have worked with people who have chronic illness, children who are epileptic and more as a coach and believe me ultimately everything depends on getting the right health info, understanding the family support and routine that surrounds this person and how they relate each day to life. You learn more sometimes from them than people are willing to take the time to learn and this in my opinion is the biggest barrier. I ran and helped develop an educational program for an epileptic boy who was labeled uneducable and this was not the case. He caught up to reading level of his class and the entire school learned about who he was as a unique person, what medical issues were at hand and how safety needs had to be considered by faculty and kids that was not just about doing something special. Good luck with what you decide and do. Best, Lavinia Weissman On Sat, April 14, 2007 10:13 am, Maggi wrote:I'd like to hear from any communities (or about any communities) that have significant interaction with developmentally disabled adults. We currently have one member who is developmentally disabled, and the possibility of others. We haven't done a lot of discussing about it as a community yet, but I anticipate lots of positive and negative emotion around this possibility. I'd love to hear feedback from communities that have successfully, or not so successfully, integrated developmentally disabled adults into their social structure. Thanks! Maggi @ Touchstone, Ann Arbor, MI (entering our 2nd year living together, half-sold) maggi at intranet dot org _________________________________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
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ICs with developmentally disabled adults Maggi, April 14 2007
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Re: ICs with developmentally disabled adults Lavinia Weissman, April 14 2007
- Re: ICs with developmentally disabled adults James Kacki, April 14 2007
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Re: ICs with developmentally disabled adults Lavinia Weissman, April 14 2007
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