Monday 18th May.
As a non-driver I find myself a member of an excluded minority in the United States of America. Take the example of Pasadena, Maryland. When I go to DC later this week I will be staying with a friend in Clarendon, Arlington, a suburb of Washington. There is a project in Pasadena called Partners in Care, a system of supports for senior citizens based on Timebanking, helping them to live in their own homes for longer (Edgar Khan mentioned it on the phone when I spoke to him this morning). According to Google Maps, Pasadena is roughly 46 miles from Clarendon, a journey by car of around 59 minutes (or up to an hour and a half if traffic is bad). To make this journey of 45 miles by public transport, Google offers the following suggestion (it notes that the information may be incomplete because not all companies have provided information). The first option involves a 23 minute walk, a 28 minute bus ride then a wait of nearly seven hours for before the commuter service departs heading out of the city towards Maryland. Once I get to Annapolis (58 minutes) I would switch busses again and travel for a further 35 minutes, getting off at the bus station and walking the remainder, about 20 minutes. A total journey time of nine hours and fifty-nine minutes. The actual traveling time is only three hours. I could cancel out the waiting time if I decided to go in the afternoon, but I want to go in the morning in order to see the project in action during the day. According to Google, this is impossible. I cannot get to Pasadena from Clarendon by public transport in the morning.
Wade, one of the guys I met at the High Street Clubhouse here in Charlottesville, said he lived out in the county. He had lost his driving license after having a seizure at the wheel of his car and crossing an intersection against oncoming traffic. When he wants to come into the Clubhouse, his dad drives him. Wade is 37 years old. I am 31 in two weeks. There is no reason for me not to have a driving license, I just don't have one. In my experience, the majority of people who have survived brain injury, like me, do not drive. In the USA, this places us at a significant disadvantage.
"As a result people often think that these are required in a Clubhouse, but this is not necessarily the case. The only units needed are the ones that serve the needs or interests of the members."
ReplyDelete== So far this blog has been fascinating and having the photos sliced between the text works really well. The Harvey Jacobs meeting was really interesting, and the clubhouses and places you've visited so far seem so very varied. I'll be really interested to see how and where your thought and journey goes. Fountain House sounds good - are you considering going up to Ontario too? Or California? A whole continent awaits...and yet there's already been these fascinating places just in one state.
The idea of a new project was inspiring stuff, but the dull british-empiricist blather came up though ashamedly, "...yes, but how?". You're striking against something though: implicit in enabling people with brain injury is to go against the grain of how our society and systems are governed. Acquired or genetic disabilities, old age, madness, ethnicity, education...these are all tied together and I'm trying to wrap my brain around it. I sense this whole journey is about working so many of these things out.
Good luck! Dan at HEL.
Thanks Dan. To know that you are reading gives me new mettle and conviction! I'm glad you're getting in on the ethical and cultural discourse too. It's tricky stuff.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about Ontario. California is a maybe. I'll keep you informed.
Ben,
ReplyDeletesorry to be late to the party but my limited internet access has been a bit frustrating and I had difficulty reading the blog and seeing the photos. However have now caught up on everything to date and have been fascinated by what you have reported and by the thought processes they have triggered. Since we already know that each individual is affected and reacts differently to the BI that they acquire, and that this is different in many ways from the experience of people with mental health problems, we should not expect that a system of rules for Clubhouses - which was based on a mental health model - would be totally suited to an ABI environment. However if the project was to learn from a variety of models which were employed with people living with ABI, then you need to see other centres - in other states or provinces - and compare these with your experience in VA. I was particularly taken with comments about PTSD / TBI and the military personnel you met with. Given the political / social establishment in the UK, I dont think that we will be able to "change the world" either from the 'top down' or from the 'bottom up'. However there is no reason why we cannot distil the experience of others - whether in clubhouse or Innishfree - into a structure which is relevant to our members at HEL. Good luck with the rest of the trip
Thanks for your thoughts, Richard. You're right. VA has the most clubhouses, but not the only ones. I plan to visit the original (and largest)c clubhouse anywhere - the Fountain House in NYC (which still serves people with mental health problems - over 400 of them apparently). I will also take the opportunity to look at others (there are some in PA I think) if it crops up. I'll keep distilling if you keep reading.
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