Imagine that you were a intellectually delayed (yes, mentally retarded) young man or woman. Your parents have taken care of you all their lives. Your elderly parents have, in fact, kept you at home for too long. Kept the burden of caring for you for themselves for so long that when help does arrive it leads to the city putting a health order on your home due to the unsanitary conditions. The poor sanitary conditions in the home are due to your way-past-retirement-parent's ill health and your handicap.
The "system" having found you call, oh, I don't know -- a crisis centre. The crisis centre gives you temporary housing (2-3 months at the most) and finds you a sheltered vocational day program. You receive assistance of a monetary nature from the government to the tune of $950.00 or so per month.
Having lived out your 3 months at your temporary home you are faced with the decision: Where to live? Mind you, as a result of your handicap, you are not capable of grasping the full consequences of the question. You are not able to find an apartment on your own. You are not able to cook in any significant way for yourself. You are unable to move about the city on the public transit system without risk to yourself. You are not able to maintain a decent level of personal hygiene or administer your own medications at the right time, in the right dose, by the right method, etc. You are, to be frank, not capable of projecting far into the future; otherwise you would be curled up in the fetal position with worry.
Your choices are -- would be: Live in a boarding home without much assistance; live in the hostel/shelter system where you would be perpetually victimized. The system will soon demand that you leave your "safe-bed" placement to permanent housing. Now, you must, with the help of your case manager (who is currently befuddled and at wits end) find a place to live. Live with your disability. Live on 900-some-odd-dollars a month. Live out your life without the crutch of mom and dad (who have been moved to a seniors home). Live out your life on your own because the system is built to help you (even in crisis) for only so long. In other words, you are welcome to help, as long as you don't need too much of it.
2 comments:
Your post reminds me of the conversations/debates we have at work. We talk about the value of a person all the time. If the person is in crisis then award him a (+) for value, if he has strong advocates another (+). If that person doesn't have government dollars he gets a (-). What the person is worth seems to be tied to political motivation (either in the community or within the agency). I've feel that some people are placed according to their worth. Having a residence that accommondates wheelchairs makes a spot at the place where I work a valued spot. So a preference for a person in a wheelchair is of course a priority but not a necessity. I feel that the placement should be a fit according to need and if there are roommates involved one of fit. One would hope that the person has choice in his new home. You're trying to place the person but you most likely start to run into the politics of placement. It becomes a minefield of choices, but who is really making the choice for the person?
Karen
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