our program day, because you asked

3 of us live with our families, 4 live alone with paid pca's who come assist us throughout the day, and 2 in group homes.  this said, our program day actually begins before we arrive.   

the getting up and getting ready process for us is much more time consuming, then waiting for a van to come get us, and finally making the loooong trek accross town picking up peers as we go. eventually we arrive at our beloved program about 9 am. 

we call it our beloved program because for us it is so much more than just something to do!  we see the same peers, do activities, laugh, learn, and feel very safe.  here we are accepted for who we are without great expectations or unrealistic demands.   he we are empowered to make choices and direct our own lives.   we are aided in speech, physical and occupational therapies  so we might keep what abilities we have-  which we fight to retain.  all the staff love us.  we feel it and it shows.  they sure dont work there for the money~  haha.  we love the feeling of being sincerely cared about, making a difference, being allowed to make vital contributions, laughing~

so we get there about 9am ish  and have our things put away, say hi to our peers and the staff.  staff sounds so cold as a word choice.  they are much more like friends than staff.  they are staff in that they follow program rules, and make sure all our needs are met.  after that, its about the heart and our relationships. its been said by many onlookers that we are more like a family.

about 9:30 we break into 4 groups and go to a room designated for us at that time.  we rotate through about 7-8 of them over a week.  here we begin our morning activities which depend on what we planned the week before.  we could be discussing current events, politics, human rights, playing a group game, watching a movie, dancing or gentle exercises, beauty related, baking, working with clay or some other fun craft, learning about science, enjoying poetry, listening to a guest speaker, using the computer, reading a novel, reviewing math skills, writing a letter to a soldier, old friend or politican...  the list is endless.   these are things our group would do.  each group is a lil different.

we then break for lunch till noon and then hang out all together for an hour in 3 various rooms which have something different going on.

then we get another 1.5 hours of a selected activity.  sometimes we like to just go hang outside or go on a community trip to the museum, library, symphany, apple picking, beach... and of course we all looooove to go shopping.

then we start to say our goodbyes to everyone and wait for the transportation to load us all up in vans.  this process often takes 20 min a van (=     then its another big chunk of time till we are all home.

theres not much left of our day when we get home as most of us are put to bed about 8:30 or 9.   then its up early to start over~   

we find a lot at the program we attend.  we find friendships, support, help with daily living skills, we learn things we've looonged to know, we are given control- control is not something we can take for granted, often its just out of our reach.  we learn more about our human rights, and have meetings which keep us informed of whats going on in the program at large. we love it there.   infact we'd rather come sick than stay home any day!   heh

you asked what we do,   hope this answers it a lil bit~

wilde cunningham