GuelphToday received the following letter from Sandra MacDonald, who was asked to send it on behalf of Kayleigh, a day program participant:
My name is Kayleigh and the day program at Community Living is very important to me. I’m 33 years old and have been attending the ADS Program at Community Living for 10 years.
I have Autism, OCD, extremely high anxiety, vision problems, trust issues and I function at a two-year-old level. I am non-verbal but can communicate by using some PECS, and by staff watching my nonverbal cues. All of that is okay because this is who I am.
It takes a long time for me to get to know staff and to trust them enough to keep my anxiety at bay while I learn new things and learn to do new activities. Sometimes I need staff to go really slow with me so I can get used to something new.
It took me almost six months to be able to enter the ADS program when it was under the admin building. I had to learn to use the bathroom there, to walk around the hallways and to enter different rooms. It took a lot of time to learn that it was ok to eat and drink there as well. Sometimes I had such high anxiety that I would only sit on the floor for hours at a time.
It took a team approach where several different workers worked hard to gain my trust and I eventually was able to eat my lunch and drink with assistance, go to the bathroom with assistance and even enter a different room to attend music therapy!
Once I was successful in doing all of this I started to go swimming at Sunbeam. I enjoy swimming and this was a favourite activity of mine in high school. Staff started by showing me pictures of the swim area, the front door and the hallway I would walk down. Then we did some drive bys to get familiar with the building.
It took four staff to help me and a couple of my friends to get inside, dressed in my swimsuit and into the pool. I had to learn to use the washroom here as well and eventually learned it was ok to eat lunch here. Once staff helped me figure this out I learned to go to the Marden walking track, and to go to malls and parks to have lunch and walk around.
There have been lots of setbacks over the years but through it all my many different staff have helped me through and to get me back on track with my routines which are very necessary to help me feel secure. My inside activities at ADS were listening to CD’s, working on puzzles, looking at magazines, painting, attending Music Therapy, walking around the gym and watching/being around my friends.
I am a watcher and am always working on sharing the radio, learning to sit together at the table and taking turns whether it be with staff attention or playing musical instruments.
One of the most important benefits of my attending ADS is that my mom gets a little break from me, I don’t sleep well and need constant attention at all times therefore my mom doesn’t sleep well. She still needs to go get groceries, do banking, go to her Dr’s appointments and stay healthy so she can continue to look after me. I need her to be able to do this on my behalf. I know she is extremely tired with this COVID going on and with me being home way more and she is unable to get me to go out regularly with the little bit of time I am able to access through Community Living.
If the day program closes I will do this a lot of the time as I can’t process change very well at all, whether it’s staff change, a vehicle change, change in time of day, or even staff that would come to get me etc. If mom can’t get me to go out then I stay home and she does too. She misses out on the things she needs to do and gets no time for herself.
I don’t want that for her, I want and need her to stay healthy and I want to be dropped off at my day program to be around my peers and the staff who take the time to get to know me and allow me to participate however I can, whether in the community or at the day centre.
This is what I NEED to be successful in my community and ADS helps me achieve my goals, which sometimes can take years to complete. This is what helps me become a full citizen, this is ok, and I should be able to have a choice. Please don’t take this choice away from me.
- Kayleigh K
