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| Housing for autistic adults-within reach? |
Illinois, my home state, doesn't have too many choices when it comes to housing autistic adults who cannot work on their own, but have little to no difficulty with brushing their teeth and doing laundry.
I live in the northern part of the state, in a county that has a huge discrepancy between the northern and southern parts due to the way it is set up. I live in the desolate far north.
I am continuing my quest to draw attention to the need for a variety of different living situations for autistic adults in Northern Kane County in Northern Illinois.
Below is a letter I wrote to my elected representatives (Christian name omitted for privacy)
Dear Representative,
My name is () and I am an autistic adult residing in your district. As you are probably aware, there are now a lot of adults with autism who either need or will need a safe, quiet and structured place to live after their parents are unable to care for them (mine are both gone).
The CDC states that 1-2% of the U.S. population is affected with
autism. Please keep in mind that the US makes up 5% of the entire world
population.
There is a development in the works in Arizona called First Place . A mom of a young man began
the mission many years ago, while her son was still receiving supports in
school. Through collaborating with the Southwest Autism
Research & Resource Center
While First
Place is literally a "first place", 12
Acres in Texas
is more of a "forever place". This is the type of living I would
need. The couple of another adult son with autism put up 1 million dollars and
received 12 million more in private donation to begin their project.
There are 12.89 million people in Illinois as of 2014-the year my mom died.
I would like to know what you and others in the Illinois state legislature are doing or can do to ensure
places like First Place
and 12 Acres can be built here in Illinois .
Institutionalization costs much more than keeping a disabled
person home-but not in a noisy- crime ridden section 8 housing project.
Now that the autism society of Illinois has wound down
operations, how can representatives, remaining agencies, parents and
individuals with autism spectrum disorder work together along with the
communities we live in to assure that our parents and older siblings can die in
peace and we can live safely, especially those of us who cannot work due to our
disability and co-morbids?
I do not do phones due to my extreme sensory sensitivities.
I can't work and I don't have any purpose in life. I think of death often. I am
hoping there is something I can e-mail or Facebook that will bring me into a
broader effort-more than what pittance I can do alone to ensure a safer and
abundant future for adults with autism and related conditions (Fragile X,
Rhett’s, and Lowe Syndrome) in Illinois.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
()
Please feel free to share or adapt to write your own letter!
Click here to find your elected representative.
"Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something." -Quote on the cinder block wall in high-school.
Please check out my blog post on my housing needs:
Sources:
First Place: firstplaceaz.org