Agency helps adults with disability live on their own - Troy resident Aaron Freed panicked when he discovered a notice in his apartment on a recent Friday.

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Agency helps adults with disability live on their own

By DAVE GROVES , Of The Oakland Press

07/13/2003

July 13, 2003
Troy resident Aaron Freed panicked when he discovered a notice in his apartment on a recent Friday.

The note did not suggest that he was being evicted or that there was a problem with the utilities, but that new carpet would be installed the following Monday.
Immediately, Freed worried about not being able to make out a check to pay for the installation. The people who help him with his finances would not be available over the weekend.
What's more, he worried about having to move a great many collected possessions out of his bedroom and then return them to their rightful places once the new carpet was in.
The anxiety Freed experienced is a frequent experience in his life - a symptom of a condition called Asperger's syndrome. Anxiety precipitated by what a typical person might see as an insignificant change in one's routine is a common trait among people with the condition, which is a high-functioning form of the pervasive developmental disability autism.
After 33 years of life and with support from family and the nonprofit service agency On My Own of Michigan, Freed has learned the skills he needs to manage stress. He used those skills to manage what many with his condition would perceive as a major change to their living space.
"I figure, in the end, it was worth it, because now I have new carpet," Freed said.
A full-time worker at a Troy area warehouse, Freed went most of his life without being diagnosed. In fact, he learned he had Asperger's syndrome just five years ago.
"The condition has affected me all of my life, so the diagnosis didn't make much of a difference," he said.
Many of the challenges he's faced have been related to difficulty developing social skills - another trait common to people with Asperger's and other forms of autism.
Freed had virtually given up trying to make friends as a youth. Complicating the challenges of his condition, he was regularly ostracized by children who saw him as different.
"Children tend to be a lot more judgmental of that than adults," he said.
Getting involved with On My Own provided Freed with an opportunity to not only learn social and life skills, but to be introduced to a community of people who share experiences shaped by life with a disability.
The apartment he shares with a roommate is managed by the Troy-based service organization.
"I think living in the On My Own apartments makes it easier to introduce myself to people," Freed said. "At first, I didn't want to come to the program because I thought I would be judged for being different. Since I have been in the program, I have felt just the opposite."
Lee Wainwright, program manager of On My Own, said the installation of a new carpet would have been a major incident in Freed's life before he started with the program.
"Aaron has really made a lot of progress since he's been here," she said. "We generally have a pretty high rate of success with our members, because (the program) is like built-in friends, supports and services."
Unfortunately, many area adults with Asperger's and other forms of autism do not benefit from On My Own services or those of programs similar to it.
"I get four or five calls a day, and we have a waiting list here," Wainwright said.
"With some of these phone calls I take, I wish I could say, 'Yes, come in right away.' It's heartbreaking to have to say the person doesn't quite fit the profile of who we're able to serve or that the best we can do is add them to the waiting list."
Freed appreciates the support he has received, saying it has made him happier than he's ever been in his life.
He lives independently from his parents but visits with them and his brother frequently. He drives to and from work each day, has learned to enjoy cooking and attends both social functions and vacations with a community of friends.
On occasion, Freed also gives awareness presentations to community and civic groups. He said he hopes the public at large learns to see people with disabilities in the same way they see people without disabilities - as unique individuals.
"People often see people with disabilities as different, and we do have differences, but, really, we're a lot like everybody else," he said.
As far as setting goals and making plans for the future, Freed said he'd rather manage challenges and enjoy the good times in life as they come.
"I can get stressed out looking at the next three or four days, much less looking far into the future," he said.
"I like to take things one day at a time."

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