Build a Soundproof Suite to help Ben Thrive

Hi, I am Laurie, Benjamin’s mom and caregiver. Benjamin was born with Autism back in 1994. A family move to Hawaii in 2006 was an especially traumatic period in his life and he developed very severe and debilitating OCD. The education system in Hawaii mistreated him and labelled him as behaviour problem child and even accused him of hacking the IT system there. They tried to get rid of him. He was traumatized by them and even now has trouble expressing emotions and crying to relieve stress because they threatened him if he cried. He was hospitalized for several months as he literally stopped eating and drinking. The hospitalization was on a different island than we lived on, so you can imagine the stress. We returned to Winnipeg after 5 years. He finished and graduated with a modified diploma. The high school he attended here was also not equipped to help him. The educational system, to be perfectly honest, failed him. He fell through the cracks of the Mental healthcare system in Manitoba then, as a lot of mental health patients do. He is now an adult mental health patient and the support is severely lacking. The assistance and resources through the government have been virtually non existent throughout his life. They won’t assist us as his IQ is too high. He is disabled but not recognized as so. If he had a medical condition such as cerebral palsy, we would get funding to modify our home to care for him. His disability is not recognized and we are disqualified from assistance. We have a great Private OCD therapist, but she does not come cheap. In addition to his therapy, we need to help him grow to become more independent. His therapist does not think he will do well in a group home and he cannot survive on his own. We are hoping to recoup some sanity and re-establish our own identities and function as a healthy couple who can care for him instead of just barely surviving day to day. Our family has been going it alone for a very long time. I’m at my wits end and we need your help.

Ideally we’d love to build a soundproof separate suite/unit with running water above our garage. The contractors estimate to do this, we need anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000. We may need to tear down our existing garage to build something that can support a separate unit. This is money we obviously don’t have. We need him to stay on the property so he can be close to us, not feel alone but feel safe. We need to be able to teach him independence but in a place that is comfortable for him. Ed and I need to return to a life of being able to share conversations about life and work without constantly triggering his OCD and debilitating him further.

I find it hard to be publicly vulnerable and most of you will be surprised by the suffering he has endured. I just can’t do it anymore. I need help. We need help.

If you are able to, please give. No amount is too small. If you’re not in a position to give, please feed and care for your own first, but please keep us in your prayers that the right people would come along to assist us.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.❤️