Developmentally disabled people shouldn't be living in hospitals, advocates say

An advocate for people with intellectual disabilities says neither hospitals nor group homes are the answer for people with special needs.

Keenan Wellar, co-leader at LiveWorkPlay, said a more person-centred approach is needed for people seeking appropriate housing with supports.

LiveWorkPlay is an organization focusing on inclusion of developmentally disabled people through direct supports and services.

Right now, there are as many as 19 individuals with autism and developmental disabilities living in hospitals in the Ottawa area and all could be discharged if appropriate supportive housing was available.

Michael Neve, 26, has been living at the Ottawa Hospital General campus for the past year and a half and is currently on the wait list for a group home.

• Read more about Michael Neve and his sister here

Neve is monitored by a security guard 24 hours a day and can only leave the institution with his sister or his personal care workers.

Not part of the conversation

Jennifer Neve said there are times when her brother lashes out and the hospital staff's response is to use physical and chemical restraints.

"This is happening a couple times a week, but this is going to have lasting impacts on his future, he's going to be quite emotionally scarred," said Jennifer Neve.

"As his sister I really hope we can find him somewhere more nurturing, somewhere he can go outside, somewhere more suited environment for him to live."

Michael Neve knows where he'd like to live.

"My own apartment…downtown, close to shopping malls," said Neve.  

But Wellar said too often people like Neve are not even part of the conversation about what is the most appropriate setting for them.

"Really what makes it work is having the person active in the process of where they're going to live, who they're going to live with, what it will look like, what their schedule will look like," said Wellar.

Housing Task Force created by province

The office of Helena Jaczek, Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services, said in a statement "there is work to do on residential supports."

The minister said the province has created a "Housing Task Force to help recommend a broader set of residential options, including those that can be implemented in the short term to address the residential waitlist."

Wellar said his agency has contributed to that discussion with its own proposal.

"We are proposing a model, where a person would have intensive supports... an apartment or home of their own…the goal is to limit the staff supports over time," said Wellar.  

"It's not that these supports are less intensive, it's just it they're done differently so we can have a different outcome."

Wellar said more often than not, when people like Neve are placed from one institutional type setting to a group home, they eventually end up back in hospital.