Jade's Story

By Brian Smith

This story is borrowed from the Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgary, specifically their Everyone Belongs campaign.

Jade is a woman with a severe developmental disability whose family was extremely reluctant to allow DDRC to try to place her in the community.They feared that she would be attacked, teased, hurt, or would fall and hurt herself.

Finally, DDRC got her work in a hotel, a real job for which she had to apply and interview for. Her brother, Ken, a major decision-maker in family was extremely skeptical. He thought she was only safe with paid workers who looked after her and made decisions for her in a known and protected environment.

One day he walked into the hotel with her and had an epiphany. She was confident walking into the hotel and leading him to her workstation past all the other hotel workers, who all greeted her as though she were part of a team and part of a community…she belonged. He suddenly saw that she was much safer as part of a group of people who really cared about her than as someone always under paid supervision. Ken has been very impressed by the hotel’s willingness to problem-solve and work with him where small problems have come up. And the hotel staff have lost their own sense of fear of how to approach or help people with disabilities.

For more information about the Everyone Belongs brand and campaign, this Abilities article sums it up very well.