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A group of students from The College were ushered into the Visitation Home’s living room, between the kitchen and the small “chapel” inside the house. One of the residents, Margaret, handed out drawings of turkeys made with hand tracings with the words “Happy Thanksgiving” written across the top.
She had prepared them especially for the occasion.
She took a few of the students on a tour of the house, drawing special attention to the room she shares with Jenny, another resident. “Jenny’s a good girl,” she said. After the tour, the students followed Margaret downstairs, where the Visitation Home’s other residents were waiting. The residents took turns introducing themselves to the students. They talked about their hobbies, their favorite movies and television shows and their families. One woman, who loves balloons, shared that she always keeps some in her pocket. Another told the students about how she makes beaded necklaces. Many of the men liked cartoons and superheroes.
The College’s Bonner Scholars community service program has connections with the Visitation Home in Hamilton, New Jersey, a private home for developmentally disabled adults. Many of these adults have either autism or Down syndrome, though other disabilities are present in the group. Bonner students, as well as the freshmen that recently visited the Home to fulfill their “Community Engaged Learning,” or CEL, requirement, spend time with the residents. The requirement, part of The College’s “First Year Experience,” calls for eight hours of community service.
Many of these residents no longer have parents to take care of them, and many have been on the state waiting list for assisted living since they were children but still have not reached the top.
According to the Web site for the “Stop the Wait” campaign, 8,012 people in New Jersey are on this waiting list. The national list, the site says, is currently at 285,034. Denise Reil, the Visitation Home’s founder and director, learned of this need when her son was diagnosed with autism.
Students completing their service hours spend part of a Saturday at the Visitation Home. They play games, complete arts and crafts projects and eat lunch with the adults. The staff workers told the students that the residents had been looking forward to their visit for weeks.
The Visitation Home consists of two houses: one for men and one for women. Both groups join for activities held at St. Vincent De Paul Parish in Yardville. While the Visitation Home, named for the biblical story of the Virgin Mary’s visitation of her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, is a Catholic organization, Reil said that residents do not have to be Catholic to live there.
However, faith had a role in the founding of the Home.
She described the trying process of finding effective treatment for her son, which involved many different doctors in various locations. He was expected to die, and Reil credits the recovery of his health to God. “I was impressed that (the Visitation Home) was family and faith oriented,” said Tammy Mall, a freshman biology major. Reil was also told that she should put her son on the state waiting list when he was very young, but she did not like the idea that he could be placed anywhere in the state, depending on where there was room—if he was placed at all. This led to the opening of the Visitation Home, which began housing disabled adults in 2003, according to its Web site.
“Stop the Wait” is run by the Association for Retarded Citizens, or the Arc of the United States. This organization aims to promote the rights of disabled people and provide resources for them. One resource of the Arc of New Jersey (the state’s branch of the nationwide organization) is Project HIRE, a “statewide employment placement and training program for adults with developmental disabilities,” says the New Jersey branch’s Web site.
The project provides jobs for adults like the Visitation Home residents, some of whom have been hired by the Arc. The goal of giving disabled adults independence is similar to that of the Visitation Home, which also offers community or family-style living different from the state homes.
Freshman nursing major Emily Mehler, who attended the “Developmental Disabilities” CEL day, found the experience “surprising and unexpected” because of “the amount of independence that each resident had and their ability to take care of themselves.” “I thought it was very nicely set up, giving each resident (his or her) own space,” she said, adding that in this type of living situation, “they get the respect they deserve, and they get to live a ‘normal’ life.” “In a state home,” said Mehler, “they might feel like they’re in a hospital.” Mall agreed. “It surprised me that they were like a big family living together,” she said.
“I think (the Visitation Home) provides a very friendly and open environment for the residents that can even make them feel like they’re part of a close knit family away from their biological family at home,” said Phoebe Ling, a freshman biology major.
“It makes them feel more loved and appreciated,” Mall added.
The Bonner CEL program that partners with the Visitation Home attempts to educate students about developmental disabilities and interacting with adults affected by these conditions.
At the conclusion of the time spent with the residents, the students discussed ways they could share the understanding they had gained with their peers on campus. One idea that surfaced was bringing the Visitation Home residents to the College’s campus for some kind of activity.
Efforts to lessen public ignorance about developmental disabilities include the “Just Say Something” campaign of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities. “People with developmental disabilities experience discrimination everyday. The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities thinks it is time to change that,” says the project’s Web site.
The campaign encourages people to speak up with their reactions about things they hear people say that are offensive to people with disabilities—as well as about things that are positive.
The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities is also currently encouraging action to stop budget cuts for resources for the disabled, although its Web site states, “It is unclear how much the Department (of Human Services) or the Division of Developmental Disabilities is being asked to cut.”
The Arc of New Jersey supports this cause as well, as does the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities, or ABCD.
The ABCD is “a New Jersey-based non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with multiple physical and developmental disabilities so that they may have the opportunity to attain the highest level of purpose and dignity,” says its Web site.
Reil emphasized to the students that developmentally disabled adults “have a purpose, just like you and me.” Her son’s purpose, she said, was to bring her family to God.
While the residents function at varied levels, all were able to understand and communicate with the students.
“I was surprised by their mental capabilities and their overall ability to function. They actually understood what was going on,” said Ling.
Jenny gushed about her love of romantic movies, noting especially The Way We Were, and her devotion to Barbra Streisand. After being prompted by Reverend Stanley Krzyston of St. Vincent De Paul, she also sang most of the opening number of The Sound of Music.
Many of the male residents were interested in characters such as Superman and the Incredible Hulk. Both men and women enjoyed dancing, coloring Thanksgiving pictures and playing games like kickball and “duck, duck, goose” with the students.
“Some of them were really smart,” said Ling. “Some of them seemed to be at the elementary school level, but some of them were much higher, such as one girl I met. She was well-read, could play piano and could say the alphabet backwards. She just started quoting Shakespeare.”