The story of young people
with severe physical disabilities placed in a chronic disease hospital
(nursing home) where they were expected to spend the rest of their
lives. They decided to take charge of their own lives and escape!
Today, an independent living housing complex, designed and managed
by this dedicated group of people, serves over 100 residents.
This book is partly a "how to" description
for building an independent living complex. As you read it you will
see that it is also a tale of "how not to." More importantly,
it tells the stories of a number of people whose lives had been
seemingly destroyed, but who, by joining together and following
a dream, achieved a near miracle.
My introduction to New Horizons started me off on a lifetime journey
of discovery, as I became deeply involved with a group of young
patients who had reluctantly been placed by their families in a
dreary chronic disease hospital to spend the rest of their lives.
In the Fifties there were no other options. But these particular
people chose a different path. They dreamed, organized and persevered
until, after a thirty-year effort, a unique housing complex was
built, designed and owned by people with severe physical disabilities.
The stories of the major players in this amazing effort and how
it was accomplished are told here. It's an inspiring tale of brave,
humorous, determined dreamers and their remarkable achievement.
When a group of life's "losers" refuse to give in to
the tragedies that have befallen them and instead join together
and hitch their fates to a dream, near miracles can happen. This
one is called New Horizons.
Alphabet
Soup
Introduction
Joan
Joan’s Dream - Roy - New Horizons Is Born
Growth - Todd’s Story - New Wing
Dick - Land Purchase - 10th Anniversary
Memorial’s Main St. - Joan vs. Board - Elaine
Growing Pains - Workshop - Joan Leaves
Ed Martin - Triple Whammy
Joan Dies - Final Push Begins
Charging Ahead!
TPZ - Bob - Art Jarvis Leaves - The Bill
Hero Bob - Peter - CHFA - Groundbreaking
Construction - Interviews - Joyce
The Move In - 90 People In 90 Days - Ice Storm
Village Life - Ann - Cathy - David - Joyce And George
How The Village Works
Ten Years Later
From Chapter 1. Joan
“Shortly after my 22nd birthday, I found
myself here,” Joan told me one afternoon. “I was
put in one of the better rooms. Most of the patients, including
my roommates were old and senile. This was to be my home, probably
for life. Oh my, what a home!…
Joan was not, by any stretch, a typical patient.
She had fully recuperated from the illness which had left her
almost totally paralyzed and had adjusted to the various breathing
aids—iron lung, rocking bed and the portable chest respirator
which could be run off a battery and was small enough to be
carried on a platform behind her wheelchair…
…became intrigued with Joan, their “thinking”
patient. They found she was interested in how the hospital worked,
where their patients came from, if any were as alert as she
was, if there were other young severly handicapped people elsewhere,
that they know about in other hospitals. With tact and sensitivity,
Joan began to make small suggestions. Was there a place at the
hospital where patients could get away from the four walls of
their rooms to socialize with others? Was it possible to get
outdoors on occasion?…
“Joan wants to start something that’s
more ambitious than anything I’ve ever heard of…What
if, she dreamed, there are others like me and we band together,
and with our numbers and need we can help each? And then perhaps
we can persuade the world there to join us in our quest for
a better life…
…They dreamed about building an environment
in which they would be able to take control over their lives,
where they could get away from the pain and death which now
surrounded them. They discussed ways of finding other young
disabled people, of creating an organization that would draw
them together with a sense of hope and purpose. They decided
to call that organization New Horizons.
…Twenty-seven people responded…on
April 2nd, 1955, they arrived at Memorial Hospital from all
over the state to form a unique organization—New Horizons—dedicated
to “adventuresome living for the handicapped.”…
None available at this time.
Email your review to reviews@disabilitiesbooks.com
In 1951, the dreaded polio virus was epidemic and
terrifying. When she was diagnosed with polio, Polly Hincks was
24 years old and pregnant with her second child.
“I couldn't conceive of the possibility that this turn of
fate would ever be looked upon as a life-enhancing experience. Actually,
over the years I have discovered that it had become exactly that
for me. My many months in the rehab ward at Grace-New Haven Hospital
and later involvement in New Horizons were an entree into an exclusive,
although hardly sought after group of individuals who lived in their
own isolated world, that of people with severe physical disabilities.”
|