Up-To-Date

Well, unless I have forgotten anything major, I think the story is now up to date. It is two days after the town hall meeting and I am feeling pretty good about things.

There is only one area of concern and that is the scheduling and the transportation. We are hoping Kenzie will be able to go to school part time and work part time. Although she will have already graduated, she is allowed to return to school for at least another year or two. Her job at the Dollarama is going well and they have indicated she can have more hours starting this summer. The issue is how to get her from home to work or from school to work.

For school, she can just take the usual bus she has for the last few years, but if she needs to get to work, it isn't so easy. AISH doesn't pay for cabs and our town doesn't supply a very comprehensive DATS system. They have a disabled adult transportation system that will take her to select areas for doctors appointments, but not transportation for work. We won't know Ashley's schedule for a few months so we have no idea how much she will be able to help.

This is the only major wait and see issue. One thing I am going to try is calling the local agency that supports people with disabilities in group homes. I am not sure if they can help, because we are not technically a client of theirs, but I am going to see what I can find out.

The other up side is that our town will begin a transportation review this summer and I am told this is an issue they are discussing.

Thank you for all your emails and encouragement - I will keep you all posted on how things are going.