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An ordinary life is an extraordinary gift

May 24th, 2009

By Audrey Benach, mycitytalk.com

Julie Ambrosio isn't out to expand your mind.

NORFOLK – She expects that many people who attended  Stockley Gardens Arts Festival were not even aware that the event was a fundraiser for Hope House, an organization that supports people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. "It is such a successful event that it does sort of have its own brand, and most people don't even know that it has anything to do with the Hope House."

Ambrosio and Hope House have tried to expand awareness that Stockley Gardens benefits Hope House Foundation, she says, "but we certainly just want them to have a good time at the event. We don't want to hit them over the head with it."

But when they do notice, "they're going to see people with disabilities as naturally a part of that event, both as artists, and as volunteers." "Sometimes people receive messages about they're environment without really knowing that they're receiving them," she says, "so it's important that they just see that people with disabilities are here, included, enjoying themselves, making important contributions to this community event."

Hope House operates on the philosophy that people with disabilities don't need to be sequestered away from society, nor does their presence need to be broadcast — they can simply live alongside their neighbors, friends and coworkers. And by arranging the right circumstances, Ambrosio says, these unplanned, unforced meetings and interactions can not only mean a full and normal life for the people served by Hope House, but can also dispel the negative perceptions that the public often holds about people with disabilities. "It's human nature to be scared or suspicious of what we don't know, so if we don't have exposure to people with disabilities, we just draw conclusions about what they might be like, and what it might be like to be around them. Our work at breaking down those barriers and preconceived notions — which usually are not positive — is simply for people to have that exposure."

"I don't think it always has to be super-profound," she says. "That's not natural. We want people naturally to be having human interactions and to draw their own conclusions from those interactions."

While Ambrosio does regularly try to evaluate how effectively Hope House is overturning negative perceptions of people with disabilities, "that's never our outright goal," she says. "We're person-centered. We're going to be looking first at the people we're supporting, their quality of life, their involvement in the community and their self-determination and independence. The community is a more welcoming place for everybody when we know more about one another and we're actively engaged.

"People with disabilities have historically not been actively engaged in the larger community," she says, "either because they've been outright excluded, or because there are a lot of barriers to self-advocacy. We would measure that success on several different levels." One of those levels is the logistical. A primary component of Hope House's service is to offer viable housing options, "so that people with disabilities have the means and opportunity to actually live in the community on their own, instead of in group homes or institutions.

"Part of that mission is just simple bricks and mortar," Ambrosio says. "We have got to have appropriate, affordable, safe apartments for folks to be able to live in."

Regulars at Fair Grounds Coffee in Norfolk have met and gotten to know a woman named Hollywood. Hollywood lives in an apartment of her own in Norfolk, provided by Hope House. She lives independently with the support of the foundation. Hollywood "receives exactly the level of support that she, Hollywood, needs," Ambrosio says, "not some predetermined level of support that's available for all eight, ten or twenty people."

Specifically, Hope House works with Hollywood to see that her needs and financial obligations are met, and they assist her in achieving her goals in the community. "Any shortfall that she has in her ability to pay her rent, or buy groceries, or do things in the community like visit the coffee shop, go to a movie, take a piano class — all those dollars are fundraised by Hope House, so her financial barriers to rise in the community don't become then the thing that defines her. Once we get over the disability not being the barrier, we don't want the finances to be the barrier either."

Financial troubles are surprisingly common among people with disabilities; Ambrosia says that 98% of the people that Hope House supports live on less that $10,000 a year. "You can talk about having a life in the community, but it's hard to have a life in the community on less than $10,000 a year." By purchasing apartment buildings and then renting a portion of the units to individuals served by Hope House, Ambrosio says the individual can save up to 40% on rent. Furthermore, the remaining units are rented out to individuals without disabilities, so that they are integrated together in the neighborhood.

"What we do is considered extraordinarily progressive in the state of Virginia," Ambrosio says. "However, it is considered best practice," in most countries and most U.S. states. Virginia, she says, has a comparatively poor record of channeling money to organizations that help people with disabilities live independently in the community. So while Hope House may be "super progressive" for Virginia, Ambrosio says, she doesn't bear that distinction proudly.

"We'd like the state of Virginia to be a much more community-friendly environment for people with disabilities."

www.hope-house.org
Collective Journalism
Source: Abhi Ahmadadeen