Members of Our-Kids-Adults
We come from all over the United
States and abroad, too. We have one thing in common, and that is
a desire to make life better for adults with disabilities. Usually
this is a person who is very close to us, but for some of us it is the
people we work with in our careers, or our neighbors,
or fellow citizens.
You can read through the excerpts
below telling a little about each of us and hopefully you will feel closer
to us. Maybe someday soon you will have the list manager add your
personal description to our list.
Catlin family
home page
Bill Coffelt
Marion Lowe
email Marion
in Wiltshire, UK
Hassan's
page
David
Wetherow
email David
Wetherow
Daisy's
page
email Daisy
Terri
email Terri
Leslie
email Leslie
Allie's
homepage
more information
about Leslie
even more information
about Leslie
RaynMom2 (Carol Parker)
personal
home page
email
Carol Parker
Mary O'Brien (Dan, Mary and Mave)
Sarah Blake
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Coffelt, Bill
I am Bill Coffelt, a retired, 57 year old widower from Pollock Pines, California,
a small community in the mountains 45 miles east of Sacramento. I
have three children. Beth, 18 will soon graduate from high school and plans
to attend college this fall at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
Bill, 22 receives supported living services and lives in his own home in
Folsom, near Sacramento. John, 14 will soon complete the ninth grade and
like me, is interested in computers. In addition to raising my kids, I
enjoy computers and gadgets, running, and advocacy.
In California, I am best known as lead plaintiff,
on behalf of Bill in Coffelt v. DDS, a class action lawsuit that resulted
in over 2,000 individuals moving out of our state institutions into community
living arrangements. I am also president of the Oaks
Group, the organization that spearheaded Coffelt v. DDS.
The Oaks Group is an organization that believes
all children should have the opportunity to grow up in families and all
adults with developmental disabilities should receive the supports and
services to help them live as close as possible to the way people without
disabilities live.
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Marion in Wiltshire,
UK, single Mum to Hassan (23) CP [spastic
quad], CVI and a whole lot of other letters after his name. Hassan
was exposed to several infections prenatally and didn't breathe for 8 minutes
at birth. He spent his first 10 years in various types of care settings
including 5 years in institutional care, before being adopted. He
walks with enthusiasm and great energy, but does not feed himself, speak
or have any useful self-help skills. Nevertheless, he is a real character,
and enjoys just about everything you would expect of a lad his age - fast
cars, pubs, and ladies of the opposite gender. Hassan is currently
living in a group home 100 miles away but moves into a new local house
in June 1999 - this will be a fully staffed community based home for life,
with individual enablers to ensure that his social life continues to challenge
him.
I'm also Mum to Daniel (11), a very capable and
outgoing young man, who has Down Syndrome and was adopted age 1, and my
newest son, who I can't yet identify online, will be joining us in June
1999. "W" is 3 1/2, has FAS, CP [left hemi] and visual impairment.
He also is a bit of a character and loves to laugh.
Why don't you visit Hassan's
home page?
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Terri
Derek & I have been married almost 22 years and have had our ups and
downs. Always bounced back somehow. Derek has left his job
and is trying to set up his own interior design and
decorating business, especially with the disabled in mind.
In 1991, Gina, NDA (now 21), was one of the 1991 MacDonalds
Child of Achievement Award winners. Later she spent 4 years in a
bad relationship which ended in divorce last year. She is now in
a more suitable and stable relationship with a man who is very nice and
they have moved in together. They have a son (Me, Grandma?? yep, and I
love it).
Life with Madeline (19), who has severe athetoid CP & epilepsy,
has been a challenge. We have been through all kinds of fights and
traumas to get or try to get her what she wants and needs, hence our financial
difficulties. Taking care of Maddie is a big job because she needs total
personal care.
Gilly, asthmatic & dyslexic (14), has a heart of gold as
far as Maddie is concerned (mostly),typical teenager (I hate the teenage
years!)
I work as a lab technician at Bristol Medical School and have been
there for 9 years in the teaching labs. Medical/dental/science and vet
students. I also work some of the time in research.
Mum to Gina NDA(21) Madeline severe athetoid CP & epilepsy (19),
Gillian asthmatic & dyslexic (14)
Wife to Derek
Grandma to Christopher Thomas 13th Dec 98!!
Thornbury, South Glos, UK
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Leslie
Hi, I'm Leslie and welcome to our world. I'm mom to Allie and Matt.
Matt is 21, still at home, he helps us out finacially and helps me
with his sister. Matt is my first child to have tried special ed services,
he's ADHD and dyslexic, not much luck with special ed for him, he left
school and at 16 took his GED exams, ranking in the top 5%, and has been
an emancipated adult since age 17. I am extremely proud of him and the
way that he has turned out. He works as a cook and also part time as a
social/community provider for a young man with various mental disabilities
and who is blind. Matt also has the sweetest girlfriend that accepts his
sister as she is and fits right into our family. I think she's going to
be around for a long time :-)
Allie will be 16 this summer and is the reason I'm on the internet and
on Our-Kids Adults and Our-Kids. Allie has PDD-NOS/Frontal Lobe Syndrome/Intermittent
Explosive Disorder/ADHD-severe, medication resisitant/Bipolar-rapid cycler
with seasonal asspects/ and various other learning disabilities and mood/impulse
control disorders. With that alphabet soup of letters you can imagine that
we have an exciting and different world every day :-)
While Allie presents many behavioral challenges due to her sensory intergration
difficulties and failing short term memory she is also fun to have around.
She's quite creative and has a way of putting things together that provide
a refreshing change from the usual. Allie recieves special education services
and that is a real challenge for mom as our local school district doesn't
know what to do with her and like many schools around the country they
want to take the path of least resistance. Because of this I have become
a highly vocal and active education and mental health advocate. To learn
more about Allie you can go to her
home page.
For myself, I advocate for education and mental health for children
and adults. I'm vice president of a local mental health peer support group
(I have chronic depression), put out a regular monthly newsletter on mental
health, do presentations on person-centered planning and
self-determination and spend lots of time on the net researching information
and chatting with friends. I'm also mom to LadyDog, Honey Bunny, Mister
Bear, and Pugsley, our 4 dogs who provide me with lots of pet therapy and
who also except people as they come. Feel free to
contact me by ICQ, my number is 772996 or send
me an email and to find out more about what I do you can go to the
web site of DisAbility Information
Services Collective of South Texas (click on Who We Are) and Texas
Mental Health Consumers Nueces County Peer Support Group web site.
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Carol
Parker Visit her homepage
and read her story. Carol maintains a site
for the Oklahoma Parent Network, for families of children with disabilities
in Oklahoma. She also manages a mailing list for Oklahoma parents
(click
here to subscribe).
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Dan, Mary and Mave
are a family that is committed to staying intact, living in the community,
and fostering the growth and potential of all members.
Because of the blessing of Mave,20, who lives with severe spastic
cerebral palsy, blindness (prosthetic eyes)and mental retardation causing
her to be a person needing total care, Dan and Mary, both 45, have lived
an exciting life. They have lived all over the USA: from Alaska to Colorado
to Massachusetts to Michigan and now Missouri, sometimes as Medicaid Nomads.They
learned advocacy as they went along and Mave has been included in regular
education schools for most of her student career. Currently, Dan is finishing
his dissertation (PhD)in Healthcare Ethics, and is Vice-President of Ethics
for the largest Catholic health system in the USA. Mary takes care
of all the education, homecare, and system change issues and is an active
ADAPT member with Mave. They look forward to starting an intentional
community in the St. Louis area. Visit
Dan, Mary and Mave's home page!
Sarah Blake I am a blind adult and am planning to pursue a dual Master's in rehabilitation counseling/teaching in order to work with blind individuals and their families. I have a Bachelor's degree in psychology and special education and am currently heavily involved in volunteer activities with families of blind children and young adults. I moderate several disability-related email lists. If you would like more information, please
visit my Web site.
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