Ken's life now is so different than when we fist met him and started to work with him. Ken is a person who has a developmental disability and has in the past had strong mood shifts when he has been extremely high and happy or when he has been down and agitated. In the past, Ken displayed a lot of assaultive behaviors to him and others and expressed no sense of meaningful remorse. He seemed unaware of the impact of his actions.

When we looked closer at his life history, we found that he had a long history of abuse and neglect. Later was shifted from foster home to foster home in hopes of finding a suitable arrangement. Finally at age 15 was placed in an intermediate care facility with 5 other people with severe disabilities. Once Ken lived in the ICF, he went to a local high school, receiving a Special Education curriculum. He preferred the company of staff and did not relate well to the people of the home. He appeared to associate himself as a peer to staff, but did not have opportunity to engage with them due to the tight quarters and busy nature of the home. He lived there until he was age 31. Ken worked unsuccessfully in a sheltered workshop, finding himself distracted by many coworkers and had many behavior problems. At the ICF home, chores were filled with conflict and confrontation. Ken appeared threatened by being asked to do things and instantly had a negative response unless activities were addressed in an extremely round about way, treated like a game. That was Ken's life when we met him.

Ken is a man who loves cars, the country, Knight Rider, the Dukes of Hazard, and truly enjoys children and animals, and friends. Ken has worked part time for most of 8 years with almost always with paid Job coaching staff present. He worked a variety of jobs from washing trucks to collecting bowling balls at the local Alley, paper routes, to merchandise receiving at a local department store. Ken enjoyed these paid positions and was willing to perform his duties as best he could. Prior to community employment
Ken has always been very social enjoying people's company and positive attention. He is a person who will make anyone smile because he has such a zest for life and enthusiasm for things he enjoys. He is personable and can be very kind and polite. In groups, Ken finds it difficult to compete for attention. However, he cultivated a faith in God by attending a small Sunday night church group near the group home. This was Ken's sole independent activity with people in the community who were not paid staff. He never exhibited aggressive behaviors there.
Ken is a well-built man who likes to be active and kept busy most of the day. He has a zeal to go, but does get physically tired and does not take note of it. He has a tendency not to communicate needs related to pain or discomfort. These are limits on how busy can be, coupled with a need to be occupied because he is healthiest and happiest when occupied with positive things to do.
Overall Ken has great potential for developing his own abilities, but with greatly divided attention of paid supporters, had little opportunity and even greater obstacles to realize them.

Ken receives 5 days of Day Habilitation services a week, 240 units annually. Hours 11-4.
M, T: Horse farm with Mo. Later: Walking the Hounds on Horseback.
He then returns to prepare papers for paper route in afternoon. (Supported Employment)
W, Th: Foster Home for Horses: walking horses. (Day Hab)
Fri: Free day with Mo (Day Hab)
Res Hab M - Sat 35 hours/week 330 units/year. In afternoons and evenings.
PCA everyday 2 hours each AM
Housemates live with Ken seven days/week and provide all over night support.

In late 1997, Ken moved into a life-sharing situation with two housemates without disabilities through an arrangement supported by Onondaga Community Living. Here, Ken could now share his life with people who he looked up to and felt more equal to. This new arrangement began to develop a life centered on him where he could have much more autonomy over the choices made in his home environment. At the Intermediate Care Facility, among other things, Ken hit his head repeatedly and swore belligerently on a regular basis daily at everyone he lived with. This sort of coping with his surroundings stopped within very few months and became an unknown quality to the new people in Ken's life. Ken's happier side was more of a constant. Frequency of negative confrontations between Ken and staff declined dramatically. What used to happen daily now occurs once or twice a year.

Ken total support package included Supported Employment, Residential Habilitation, Personal Care Assistance, Day Habilitation and Casemanagement. These services combined with housemates who he shares his home with, provide for Ken's 24 hour needs. All of these services are provided (except PCA) through Onondaga Community Living.

Onondaga Community Living's Day Habilitation. Provides Ken with an opportunity to pursue his vocational interests through volunteering. For Ken volunteering takes an interesting twist and isn't necessarily "volunteering" as a charitable contribution to a noble non-profit organization. When Ken started in Day habilitation he did some exploring in these types of volunteer situations. In the end they did not carry his interest. Eventually Ken volunteered in two jobs that he really liked. His love for animals and a long history of horseback riding (at least 15 years) brought Ken to volunteer on a horse farm, brushing and walking horses. His love for cars and trucks brought him to volunteering to wash vans for the agency who ran the Intermediate Care Facility and he is now working for Enterprise, a vehicle leasing business. Ken now interacts with the many people he knew there as a peer and a friend, which was wonderful to see.
Ken also held a paid position at a local store but lost this job due to some aggressive problems at work. This was very sad and difficult for his employer and his supporters. Ken made good friends there and was well liked. Sometimes the confined quarters, late hours he worked after busy days volunteering and some nasty drugs that left him with a "hangover" was a cocktail for problems. Time was taken to relook at planning for Ken and consider a new tack.
Eventually, Ken worked through Supported Employment doing a paper route. For the ideology of Supported Employment team members this felt like a poor placement, but for Ken it worked very well. Ken loves to be with people one on one. At the ICF, Ken loved long walks one on one walks with staff. He liked to say hello to people and meet pets on the way. On the paper route Ken has regular customers he sees and loves to "keep his customers happy!" He also knows many pets and there masters and children in the neighborhood. Ken is able to get out some of his internal "drive" and experience calming surroundings in his work environment. Ken exhibited success in this for over a year and others in his support group advocated for more work time. Ken had such a positive experience through Day Habilitation washing vans; he is now working at a local rent a car company washing their cars for money.

A key role filled in Ken's life is a long-term friend named Mo. Mo and her family had provided horseback riding lessons for years. Mo heard about OCL working with Ken and thought it might be a good opportunity for her as well as an opportunity to spend time with Ken, who she enjoyed teaching for so long. Ken's love of the country and country life got a chance to bud as Mo and Ken spent time doing the morning working with Mo's horse's. Feeding, cleaning stalls, brushing etc… This year, Ken got an opportunity to help Mo's sister out while she was away for a while. Ken was to be the dog walker for the hounds. These hounds though, are walked while the walkers are on horseback. Ken and Mo horse back two days a week as the hound s follow and get their energy out. This is a very cool opportunity for Ken and right up his alley. Ken's relationship with Mo and her family have grown and Ken's ability to actually experience the things he only saw on TV on the Dukes of Hazard became a reality. Ken even has friendships with Mo's boyfriend who has a hot rod!!!

Ken has moved a couple times and has lived with different housemates since we have supported him here at Onondaga Community Living. Another long-time friend invited Ken to live with her and her husband in the country! He has moved in with them and is now more happy and content with his life than we have ever experienced.

The obstacles that were foremost for Ken included behavioral concerns both at home and in the public, refocusing the attention to what Ken's needs really were and how we needed to change, and realizing that time and space considerations played closely with success and failure of his day. The majority of Ken's planning goes into providing specifically for those needs. Maintaining a safe, secure and welcoming home, positive activities as Ken grows and evolves, work that is challenging but achievable and pays, developing a sense of self and spirituality, and opportunities to be a part of his community all are ongoing and updated. Ken has inherent needs that will always be there and need to have creative thinking to maintain support or overcome it.

Ken still has a high degree of impulsivity, diminished by trusting relationships. He likes to pick up things that don't belong to him. Ken still needs one to one staffing for safety concerns. He needs help in social judgment and advocacy as he interacts in the community, as he can be too friendly and ultimately misunderstood. He has reached a level of self-care that needs to be maintained and hopefully improved. There are many other inherent needs that Ken possesses, as do many people with mental retardation and other contributing factors. It requires ongoing attention, discussion and focus on what Ken is experiencing and learning to express to enable us to provide the best service to him.

close