Help Bring Aidan Home to Oregon

Support a Disabled Veteran’s Family Fighting to Reclaim Their Son’s Future

My name is Barbara, and I am asking for your help for the Hill family. They have given their lives to serve others. Andy is a disabled Army veteran with almost 22 years of service, retiring officially on 7/31/2025. Megan, my best friend, is also a disabled caregiver like me. She is AuDHD (ADHD and Autistic) with serious physical disabilities. She is a nonprofit founder and mother of two disabled young adult sons. The boys are both Autistic, but Aidan, their oldest, also has Cerebral Palsy, an intellectual and developmental disability, and other medical conditions that require significant support. Right now, Aidan is living in a Texas state institution, the Austin State Supported Living Center (AuSSLC). It is as awful as you imagine. The pictures of infections and injuries happened on their watch! They are willing to share details with reporters who will listen.

That was not what they wanted. Megan fought for Aidan to stay home. But after years of being failed by a system that underpays caregivers, offers no backup, and refuses to support disabled families, she could no longer physically care for her son. Megan has had both arms surgically broken and rebuilt in the last year, and a total of 6 surgeries in 14 months. She often needs Andy to carry her purse and open doors. There is no way she could safely lift or support a 140-pound medically complex young adult on her own.

The only way to keep Aidan safe at that point was to put him in a facility, but Texas let him be neglected and harmed there. They believed that in this day and age, there is no way that care could be as bad as it turned out to be. There are wonderful people there, but a lot who aren't. It shows.

Why Oregon

Oregon is one of 18 states that closed its large institutions and built a community-based care model. That means families are not forced to give up their children just to get help. Oregon offers 24-hour in-home support. Caregivers are paid enough to stay, and disabled people are treated with dignity. Plus Megan has family all over Oregon.

For the first time since Aidan was a baby, the Hills will be close to family. Megan’s brother, and some cousins are in the area of Oregon they chose to settle. They are already working on getting Aidan enrolled in services now so that he can be placed in a group home or adult foster home as soon as possible while the family transitions to the state.

The family found bare property in the same town as her brother and family and two cousins The property has enough space they will be allowed to build the multigenerational home they need to meet everyone's medical and sensory needs. It is a place to start with the land required by Oregon to have a secondary dwelling on the property while they build. The goal is to build a fully accessible multigenerational home on the land that includes nursing-level support without feeling like a hospital. If you know an architect who can help design that, please reach out. There are so many moving parts to the move to meet the physical needs of Aidan because he requires a gurney to shower, the bathroom has to be barrier-free and big enough to bathe him laying down. There must be adequate storage for all of his medical supplies. All doors need to be 36 inches wide for Aidan and Megan.

Why They Need Help

The cost of living in Oregon is much higher than in Texas. The Army will only pay to move them the same distance from Texas as it is to where he first enlisted, which means the military is covering less than 30 percent of the move cost. The Hill family still have to pay double utilities, supplies, and repairs, and the old mortgage until the old house is repaired and sold. Megan is still healing. Andy is going to school to train for a flexible career where he can help care for Aidan. Their son Jack is also in school, after being nearly pushed out by a district that refused to let him take 18-plus vocational classes. They had to hire legal help to fight for Jack’s right to learn. They are winning that battle, but they would much rather live in a place where disabled people are seen as worthy of independence.

Megan's father is from Oregon, but he was military and married Andy where her dad retired from the Air Force. So her extended family including nearly all of her siblings, is in Oregon. The Army doesn't consider where a family needs to go at the end of service. If Andy had enlisted here in Texas, they would only pay to move them out of military housing to the immediate town. That was a kick in the pants to learn after nearly 22 years of service with five deployments.

Once they have an address they own, they can get Aidan moved to a safer Oregon facility, even if they are not moved all the way into their home. Oregon has safety and accountability measures and uses person-centered planning to ensure that residents of group homes and adult foster homes are not abused and neglected, and if they are, there are real consequences for the bad actors. That has not been their experience in Texas.

Jack wants to help, but struggles with executive functioning. He tries hard, but there are limits to what he can manage. Megan cannot pack. She cannot travel long distances without significant support. She needs help for many basic daily tasks. This is not a family who is lazy or unprepared. This is a family who was set up to fail by a system that never planned for them to survive. Andy found out today he got a 90 percent rating from the VA, but they missed several things, and that is another fight ahead of them. They are tired.

Aidan Was Harmed When He Should Have Been Home

Aidan was not supposed to need an institution. He belongs in the community. But Texas failed him. They allowed him to be neglected and harmed in care, when all his mother wanted was to keep him at home. They told Megan she would have to fail on paper before they would help. And even then, help rarely came. There are not adequate supports and caregiver pay to keep people with complex needs like Aidan in their own homes, particularly if a parent is ill, disabled, or dead.

Barbara speaking again - I know what that feels like. I have slowly become more disabled over the years. My son Matt is in a wheelchair. There is no real support for us either. Especially after our kids turn 21 or 22, everything disappears. We are expected to just survive while the state washes its hands of us. I do not want my son institutionalized. I am terrified of it. Megan is living through what I fear most. I am not asking for help for strangers. I am asking for help for a family I love, walking the path I know too well.

What Your Support Will Do

Your donation will help the Hill family:

Pay the seller-carried down payment and land-related expenses

Cover moving costs the military will not reimburse

Begin clearing and preparing space for an accessible home

Finish repairs on the Texas home so they can sell it to use the funds to build Jack and Aidan’s home.

Sustain their family while Megan heals and Andy and Jack are in school

Expand their nonprofit, Neurodivergent Friends™, to Oregon if you wish to donate to that cause directly (that does not benefit the Hills directly, but will help the organization itself). Neurodivergent Friends is a nonprofit run by and for Neurodivergent People, founded by the Hill family. It helps families navigate Medicaid, Social Security, special education, housing, and advocacy. It provides sensory-friendly events, resource guidance, and direct support. They are bringing that mission with them.

Direct donation Link for Neurodivergent Friends™ can't be listed, so go to NeurodivergentFriends followed by .org, and at the top of every page is a link to donate or volunteer. Those are tax-deductible.

Please Help Us

Please donate. Even one dollar helps.

Please share this fundraiser.

Please contact your legislators and ask why disabled families are being forced to give up their children to get help in Texas.

Please ask why caregivers and nurses are paid so little with no benefits in Texas.

Please ask why we keep locking people away instead of helping them live in the community in Texas.

The Hill family did everything right. They served, they showed up, they helped others. They are not asking for luxury. They are asking for a chance to live together, in peace, near family, in a state that respects them.

Please help bring Aidan home to Oregon.

Thank you,

Barbara