Donation protected
This is from my sister and brother in law regarding my nephew. Please consider giving anything you can to meet our goal: one year’s tuition at Triform Camphill Community (see below).
Please pass on this request to anyone you can think of. Thank you for your help.
--Elizabeth Cleary
Meet Eamonn Malachy Lewis, our wonderful, charming, gentle, endearing but non-verbal and completely dependent autistic twenty-two-year-old son.
Eamonn developed normally until the age of three, speaking in age-appropriate sentences, laughing, reading, playing with us, his older brother, his grandparents. Over the next year, for reasons no one could determine, he slowly began to regress and disappeared into his own world. He lost all his language, all interest in play or interactions with others, all emotional relatedness. After eight years and a great deal of difficulty, we succeeded in having him placed at the New England Center for Children in Southborough, Massachusetts, the gold standard for helping those with autism spectrum disorders. Eamonn was in their residential program for twelve years and succeeded wonderfully. He learned to manage his challenging behaviors, learned many skills of daily living and became the calm, gentle person he is now.
In April of 2018, he aged out of that placement. We were shocked to discover that the State of Vermont no longer has group or community living facilities for someone like Eamonn and that the model is now to pay people to take the disabled into their homes. The potential for abuse and neglect of such a vulnerable, non-verbal person in temporary, unsupervised settings is a risk we can’t take. We spent a year preparing for his transition, looking for another community in which he could be happy and be successful, and found some that were wonderful. However, each told us that Eamonn’s needs were too great for them to manage.
Eamonn lived at home with us for nine months, receiving only meager and inadequate services provided by the State of Vermont, rendered by frighteningly untrained staff. This meant that we had to stay with him, as he can’t be left alone, seriously disrupting our work lives. In December of 2018, he had the amazing good fortune to be accepted to a truly wonderful and unique intentional community in Hudson, New York called Triform Camphill Community, which focuses specifically on the needs of young adults with developmental disabilities. We include the website for more detailed information: www.triform.org.
Unfortunately, since Triform is in New York, Vermont refused to release any of the funding he was granted. We recently had him declared a NY resident, but it turns out that NY doesn’t recognize Triform as a medical or assisted living facility, so even with NY residency, his stay is not covered by NY disability services or Medicaid. Triform has been trying for years to change that, but thus far to no avail.
Our plan is for him to stay at Triform for at least a year and then apply to another nearby Camphill community called Camphill Village, in hopes that a spot becomes available at that time. Triform is a community specifically for young adults, but Camphill Village is a place where Eamonn could stay for the rest of his life. His time at Triform is preparing him for the same kind of intentional community living and, like many former Triformers, we hope that he too will be accepted there. Equally important, it would be covered by NY disability and Medicaid.
Therefore, we are respectfully asking anyone who reads this for any amount that you can spare toward our goal, which is what is needed for Eamonn to stay at Triform for a year.
We feel so fortunate to have found and been welcomed by such a wonderfully supportive group of caring, thoughtful people who work every day to create such a respectful environment for our sensitive and vulnerable son, as well as for other young adults with similar challenges. Above all, as his parents, we feel so relieved that he found a place where he can thrive and be happy in safety. This is truly a dream come true for any parent of a disabled adult. We would be forever grateful for your generosity. We ask not for ourselves but for our son Eamonn, who cannot advocate for himself.
With our deepest gratitude,
Mary Cleary Lewis and Christopher Lewis
Please pass on this request to anyone you can think of. Thank you for your help.
--Elizabeth Cleary
Meet Eamonn Malachy Lewis, our wonderful, charming, gentle, endearing but non-verbal and completely dependent autistic twenty-two-year-old son.
Eamonn developed normally until the age of three, speaking in age-appropriate sentences, laughing, reading, playing with us, his older brother, his grandparents. Over the next year, for reasons no one could determine, he slowly began to regress and disappeared into his own world. He lost all his language, all interest in play or interactions with others, all emotional relatedness. After eight years and a great deal of difficulty, we succeeded in having him placed at the New England Center for Children in Southborough, Massachusetts, the gold standard for helping those with autism spectrum disorders. Eamonn was in their residential program for twelve years and succeeded wonderfully. He learned to manage his challenging behaviors, learned many skills of daily living and became the calm, gentle person he is now.
In April of 2018, he aged out of that placement. We were shocked to discover that the State of Vermont no longer has group or community living facilities for someone like Eamonn and that the model is now to pay people to take the disabled into their homes. The potential for abuse and neglect of such a vulnerable, non-verbal person in temporary, unsupervised settings is a risk we can’t take. We spent a year preparing for his transition, looking for another community in which he could be happy and be successful, and found some that were wonderful. However, each told us that Eamonn’s needs were too great for them to manage.
Eamonn lived at home with us for nine months, receiving only meager and inadequate services provided by the State of Vermont, rendered by frighteningly untrained staff. This meant that we had to stay with him, as he can’t be left alone, seriously disrupting our work lives. In December of 2018, he had the amazing good fortune to be accepted to a truly wonderful and unique intentional community in Hudson, New York called Triform Camphill Community, which focuses specifically on the needs of young adults with developmental disabilities. We include the website for more detailed information: www.triform.org.
Unfortunately, since Triform is in New York, Vermont refused to release any of the funding he was granted. We recently had him declared a NY resident, but it turns out that NY doesn’t recognize Triform as a medical or assisted living facility, so even with NY residency, his stay is not covered by NY disability services or Medicaid. Triform has been trying for years to change that, but thus far to no avail.
Our plan is for him to stay at Triform for at least a year and then apply to another nearby Camphill community called Camphill Village, in hopes that a spot becomes available at that time. Triform is a community specifically for young adults, but Camphill Village is a place where Eamonn could stay for the rest of his life. His time at Triform is preparing him for the same kind of intentional community living and, like many former Triformers, we hope that he too will be accepted there. Equally important, it would be covered by NY disability and Medicaid.
Therefore, we are respectfully asking anyone who reads this for any amount that you can spare toward our goal, which is what is needed for Eamonn to stay at Triform for a year.
We feel so fortunate to have found and been welcomed by such a wonderfully supportive group of caring, thoughtful people who work every day to create such a respectful environment for our sensitive and vulnerable son, as well as for other young adults with similar challenges. Above all, as his parents, we feel so relieved that he found a place where he can thrive and be happy in safety. This is truly a dream come true for any parent of a disabled adult. We would be forever grateful for your generosity. We ask not for ourselves but for our son Eamonn, who cannot advocate for himself.
With our deepest gratitude,
Mary Cleary Lewis and Christopher Lewis
Organizer and beneficiary
Elizabeth Cleary
Organizer
Dayton, OH
Elizabeth Cleary
Beneficiary