Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 28/99) - The Yellowknife YWCA has tried for three years to move a group of intellectually-challenged adults out of a group home and into the community.

Thanks to a Health and Social Services announcement last week, they'll get their wish.

The clients require a high level of care but according to YWCA's director of community support, Kate Tymstra, that doesn't mean they can't live by themselves.

"The concept of individualized service has been difficult to sell because our clients are considered high needs individuals who seem to need facility-based services," Tymstra said. "We argued that the service must be about the support we build around the person, rather than the physical structure of the building."

In response to a trend designed to get disabled individuals into home support environments, the YWCA was able to close one of the two group homes it operated in 1996. At that time, eight clients were moved into apartments.

Since then, Tymstra said they've been trying to move the rest of their clients out of the second home.

"What was happening was anybody could be put in one of those eight group home beds. It didn't matter if the disabled adults were compatible or if they had the same need levels," Tymstra said. "It was just unfair."

For those who are moving, it's a big step. One client is completely deaf, another is almost blind and all are intellectually disabled.

But YWCA executive director, Lyda Fuller, said the first eight adults who moved out of the group home three years ago have adapted very well.

"They bought furniture of their own, hung photos on the wall and built a life for themselves. People from the community comment on how happy and content they are. The move really made a difference," Fuller said.

She said Yellowknife Health and Social Services has increased their funding flexibility, which allowed them to make better choices for those who are still in a group home.

"We feel the best situation is where a person can gain control of their life and can make real choices about where they live, who they live with and what they do. These are rights that every person should be entitled to," Fuller said.

"Moving disabled people into the community helps to break down barriers by giving different people the opportunity to get to know each other as human beings. That's something that strengthens the entire community."

For 14 years, Terry Brown and his family lived next door to the group home, which is scheduled to be vacated later this summer.

He said the Brown family will miss attending Christmas celebrations and barbecues at the group home.

"If they weren't my neighbours, then I would never have had the opportunity to meet them on a personal level. They allowed me to become comfortable with interacting with handicapped people in a social situation and I'm thankful for that experience," Brown said.

"I'm sorry to see them go because I don't know whose going to move in there now."

Tymstra, who works with the intellectually disabled everyday, said when some people hear her clients may be moving into their apartment complex, they voice the "not in my backyard" argument. It's something she's never been able to understand.

Tymstra said allowing her clients to become more visible is a major step towards promoting understanding in the community.

"For me, a lot of it surrounds acceptance for all people," Tymstra said.

"Discrimination is something that has always confused me. It seems like a lot of wasted energy to hate other people -- and it's usually something that is based in fear and ignorance."