I Have A Dream

I have a dream that one day there will be a place where people with mobility challenges will have access to guaranteed care, community, and quality of life:

• Where they can live and die with dignity.

• Where every step to retain independence will be taken.

• Where no one needs to live in isolation or become a burden on their friends and family.

• Where they can find camaraderie.

• Where they can engaging in activities that are accessible to all.

• Where they can live in a community that understands them.

I’m getting older that this is more so the case. I wonder, will I become a burden on my son in my final years? Knowing he could never take care of me, and never wanting him to. I worry, will I be forced from my home into a nursing home sooner rather than later? What will that care look like? Will it be a home full of the forgotten?

We all have these thoughts, able-bodied included, but having mobility challenges leaves us even more vulnerable. I have a dream to ease that fear as much as humanly possible.

Sounds nice right? What solution am I specifically talking about then? In my post American Atrocity I hinted at a solution to the problem of care that many of us face. In this post I will describe what I hope to have the privilege to create. This is my call to action for anyone who thinks this a valid idea: please contact me if you’d like to be involved. So here it goes…

What if there was a Life Plan Community created just for people with mobility challenges? For the quads, para’s, hemiplegics, and stroke survivors in our country? I’m talkin’ about a few hundred acre community where people with mobility challenges can live with their families. Not stacked on top of one another in low income assisted living but in a community filled with accessible recreations and homes. One that has accessible gardens to grow the community’s food, paved bike paths, trails, pools, golf, stables, bowling, an accessible gym, biking, yoga, meditation, UTV’s, and any other interest someone could want to partake in. One that has a full staff of recreational therapists available seven days a week to help residents take part in whatever they desire to do. What if it had physical and occupational therapists with a full treatment gym, psychiatrists, general practitioners, and a a unit for more intensive care should the need arise? What if it had a restaurant, drug store, provided equipment service techs, lawn care, house keeping, laundry services, day care, drivers, and of course round the clock care that could be as hands on or on call as you like. And for the clincher…what if the place was managed by it’s residents?

Life Plan Communities, catering to the elderly, are popping up all over America. Here in Vermont we have a fantastic, well established one, called Wake Robin and an up and comer called Morgan Orchards. Morgan Orchards doesn’t have as many community programs or a focus on sustainability, which I love, but it will get there. Why not create one for us? I know it sounds far fetched. I know it sounds costly. I would counter that investors can always be found. Money can always be raised. Pooling resources makes things cheaper and easier for all. Like other Life Plan Communities it would need people willing to pay a one time fee and a monthly rate for lifetime care. If people can’t afford than they work in the community and help to fundraise for their entry. Everyone has their strong points. We just need a place where we can put them to use.

In a time when our government cares less and less about providing for people with mobility challenges it is up to us to take the high road and find a solution. It’s up to us to prove that we too have human capital. We deserve to live in a place where we aren’t bound by our limitations; Where we have community and support; Where we don’t have to worry about being a burden to loved ones just in order to get up in the morning. We can provide those of us with mobility challenges a better life than many of us face now. A place that will assuage the worries and fears that having a disability leaves you and your family with, in favor of a place where every door opens. Where we won’t be left behind.

To anyone else reading, put yourself in our shoes. What if it was your parent or your child worrying over a less than secure future? Or unable to even do the simplest thing like visit a friends home because it isn’t accessible? I can’t tell you how many things I’ve missed in my life because I couldn’t get in.

So, if you or your loved one would benefit from such a place then by all means comment. Contact me personally if you’d like to help me get this project up and rolling!