"Least Restrictive Housing" and adult independence

Post Reply New Topic

After the deinstitutionalization of the 1970s, people with a variety of conditions were placed out in "the community" in a crazy quilt of group homes, subsidized apartments, disability apartment blocks, bed and board situations, nursing homes, homeless shelters, jails, etc. https://www.specialneedsalliance.org/tough-choices-people-with-disabilities-face-housing-crisis/

Similarly, the "least restrictive environment" is the standard for the IDEA act governing disabilities in education. https://disabilitylawco.org/resource/least-restrictive-environment-fact-sheet

An implication of this is that young adults with autism should be taught independent living skills with the understanding that in most cases, parents will die before their adult children. Not only will independent living skills prevent decompensation when family housing is lost. Independent living will also give each individual the greatest chance of a fulfilling life.

Comments?

I always make a joke that I live in a nursing home. It's not. Two months ago I moved into a subsidized apartment complex that's for those 55 and older and/or disabled. And, even though I have an apartment, I don't call it that. I call it a room. Why? The manager seems like he watches my every move, like an aide in a psych hospital or a C.O. in a prison.

He told me yesterday that people were complaining about the odor from my onion soup.

He "instructed" me last week on how to flush my toilet, as if!

He warned me about downloading copyrighted materials off the internet.

Other residents warned me about walking around barefooted because the manager would frown on that.

He watches people to make sure they place the right recyclables in the right bins.

After having spent quite a few months in psych hospitals, I really beg to see the difference with the way I'm living now. Sure, I have my own room and a big flat screen TV, but I know the day will come when they'll tell me that people are complaining of the TV's volume or maybe I snore too loudly or maybe I shouldn't isolate like I do.

"Least restrictive housing?" Adult independence? Hah! Where is it?

The cost of having to build specialized, separate apartments for all disabled people would be too much and that's part of the reason there's a shortage in homes for disabled people with high care needs or unable to work, or who need the stability of a subsidized or secure home.

The law needs to grow some teeth and not allow landlords to discriminate.

@redrobin: is there anyone you can turn to for legal advice? Sounds like that person is harassing you.

redrobin, I'm curious/confused. Are you living in Seattle like your profile says, or in Port Townsend, like your blog says?

Port Townsend is a beautiful town! Of course so is Seattle, but it does have some seedy areas.

I have lived in 55+/disabled housing when I was under 55. It was a Catholic-run place and I got kind of sick of all the rules. On the other hand, it had many great conveniences and was very safe.

I hope you can tell this creepy manager to "back off" or however you choose to say it. There was a busybody manager at my disabled apartment too, and I heard she got fired after I moved out.

I live in Port Townsend, and truth be told, it's my dream town. I moved into this nursing home because it's the only one that called and told me a place was available. (I'd been staying in the shelter and my car, so an apartment was most welcome).

I wouldn't say the manager was harassing me; really, more like an annoyance. I'd rather not be told my onion soup was offensive because now I'm paranoid about what I should cook. Obviously, all seafood is out. I now make the joke that my diet should be nothing more than Ensure and apple sauce.

I can live here. I can abide by the rules. I'm just anxiously waiting for somebody to complain about my tv being too loud because I'm dying to by a nice set of Bluetooth headphones anyway.

I'm glad you're in your dream town. I can just picture the blue, blue water and the wheeling seagulls.

Onion soup would be fine with me. A lot of the elderly residents have nothing to do but complain and gossip all day. Neurotypical to the max!

Do you have any thoughts on whether it's important to give young adults with autism the preparation for living independently? (the topic of this thread)

I think it's important to give young autistic adults the tools for independent living, but of course, some will be successful and others not depending on the severity of their symptoms. Ezra, for instance, is very intelligent and quite aware of his surroundings, but even he admits he needs extensive help in the physical disability department.

There's been talk, very often, on WP about whether or not autists should have their own city. I voted against it because we're as varied as the general population. We're conservatives and progressives, religious and atheists, so there is bound to be a lot of clashing.

As it stands, many autistic people in Seattle live in DSHS homes because they're too dependent on others for their daily needs - food, hygiene, etc. I believe the autistic centers try their best to help these people achieve as much independence as possible, but the reality is, a few might make it out in the general population, but the more severe amongst us won't.

When I lived in Seattle, back in the 80s, I worked as a community mental health case manager, for adult outpatients. We would go to clients' homes or see them in the center. We were to have at least one face to face contact per month. I thought it was a good model that made all the difference in keeping seriously mentally ill people stable.

I don't know why something like this wouldn't work for people with autism, provided they had the mental capability to do things like budget their money and time.

We also picked people up and drove them to programs or in some cases, the hospital. We did a lot of good. The problem of course is funding this. Back then autistic meant pretty severe; it was before Asperger's came into usage in the 90s. I don't know how those programs function nowadays, since I don't live there any more.

Maybe that manager just acts that way with new people. A man I know who's around 57 moved into a low cost residential hotel and the manager was like a constant presence at first. But the place gets people who don't seem to know how to behave themselves and give him problems. So it was like after the manager saw that he wasn't going to be a problem, he hardly ever sees or hears from the manager anymore.

Port Townsend is a nice place. I enjoyed visiting it last summer. I liked the old navy base park there. And I remember the sea there had a really beautiful color to it. Idk if that was because of seaweed or coral or what.

I have long thought that you have unusually enlightened parents, Ezra.

They really are. I couldn't ask for better parents for my situation.

I once asked my favorite economics professor if it was economically inefficient to accommodate people with disabilities. This is what he said.

"Not at all, because everyone has a disability. I myself have a golfing disability."

Teaching autistic people "independent" living skills, that they may have trouble learning, has to be weighed against teaching autistic people specialized task that they may good at. Someone on the high functioning end of the spectrum would probably learn independent living skills easily, so there would be very little sacrificed if they were taught them. People on the lower functioning end would have to spend a lot of time learning some independent skills which would take away from learning a specialized task that they may have a talent for. It would be like forcing my economics professor to learn to play golf when he's good at economics.

To some extent everyone specializes. If you get a job at a factory, and use the money to buy food, then you are specializing in factory work while someone else specializes in farming to feed you. Specializing makes people more productive by allowing them to forgo task they have difficulty with.

I think is doubly important for low functioning autistic people to specialize, and I think any support provided should be dedicated to allowing for such specialization.

Where I'm coming from is that family living situations are often abusive. In a perfect world, a low-functioning autistic person could learn a specialized skill and be employed in some way doing it; and the family member(s) taking care of them would empathetically take care of the person's needs, never being harsh and abusive. It ain't a perfect world.

In fact, I think much of the support that could be given to autistic adults should be aimed at sparing them from that sort of abusive environment, as well as being able to live a full and satisfying life. Suppose they can live alone, cook, shop, clean for themselves as well as see a doctor as needed; but have no specialized skill. That's better than living at home, doing a specialized skill, being mocked and criticized from family members who do at least keep a roof over the person's head and food on the plate.

I would venture to say that no parent ever sets out to have a child thinking, "I will have to care for this person for the next 50 years, minimum, and they will be unpleasant to live with and a burden." So when something like this happens, there is often considerable resentment. Not all parents are resentful, but many are, as well as many siblings.

Hmmmm.

Perhaps there is a way to field test our philosophies. May we talk over pm?