I had an idea about a kind of supported living situation for people on the spectrum; this idea came partly from some things I’ve read here on WP and partly from the experiences of me and my brother. I’m working on a plan to make my idea a reality, but before I did that I wanted to hear what other people thought about it and whether or not people would want to live in such a place if it existed.
The problem me and my brother have in terms of getting support and services is that we are considered too “high functioning”. That is despite not being able to take care of ourselves and live independently.
My brother needs to be told to do things such as changing his clothes, taking a shower and brushing his teeth. When discussing his needs and the kind of support he would require as an adult (he just turned 16), we said that he would need someone to tell him to do these things and they said that they did not have the resources to provide that.
Anyway, my idea is kind of like sheltered accommodation, but not for elderly people, and with more intensive support for people who need it. Also I think it is important for people to be a part of decisions involving them, too often decisions are made for us without us even being consulted. So the people living in this situation would be part of the decision making, for example having a say in any staff that may need to be hired.
Another part of my idea is setting up businesses that could be run by and only hire people on the spectrum. I know there is a company that does a similar thing in one of the Scandinavian countries but I have not heard of such a thing being done in the UK or in the US.
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