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'A true community': Damar Village will be home to 120 Hoosier adults with disabilities

Indianapolis Star - 5/24/2021

Construction on the first phases of Damar Village, housing complex built especially for adults with disabilities, is nearing completion.

Inside the row of houses adjacent to Damar Services' main campus, there's paint to touch up and finishes to apply. Outside, the mounds of dirt alongside freshly poured sidewalks will be transformed into sensory gardens.

For decades, Damar Services has provided outpatient, community-based and residential health services to Hoosiers with developmental and physical disabilities. The 13-acre Damar Village, adjacent to the agency's main campus on the city's southwest side, will eventually provide housing to 120 adults with disabilities.

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Jenny Peters-Reece, Damar's chief strategy officer, said Phase II is on track to be completed this summer, while Phase III is expected to open sometime in 2022.

Each unit includes four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and central shared living space, and adjustments can be made to meet the needs of everyone, such as adding grab bars and reinforcing walls.

Peters-Reece said the intent behind every aspect of the Damar Village is to create a safe environment where residents can build a sense of community.

"A lot of times with people with disabilities, what we find is isolation — they were isolated as a child with their family, perhaps rejected by the community or pushed to the margins — and the same thing can happen as adults," she said. "So, we want them to grow friendships, feel like they're part of a community, part of our Damar community, but then part of their community in their home."

Building a sense of community

Although construction isn't quite complete, some future tenants' families are already looking forward to their loved ones settling in.

Kathy Mosbaugh's son, Aaron, is 38. At 18 months old, Aaron fell into a coma while battling spinal meningitis. When he emerged, he was diagnosed with a seizure disorder and brain damage that resulted in developmental and cognitive delays.

The family was in "crisis mode" when they decided to move him into a residential facility around age 14, Mosbaugh said. In need of 24/7 care, Aaron began climbing ladders and onto grain bins. He once slipped out of the house while a babysitter was in the bathroom and was found riding his bike down the center line of a major thoroughfare.

“He just doesn’t understand the danger," she said.

Also moving into the complex are Cindy Agan's 34-year-old twin sons, Mike and Andy VanMeter. Andy has autism and Mike has cerebral palsy and severe cognitive delays.

Agan, 64, acknowledged her family's choice may not be the choice every family would make. Ultimately, she felt it would be best if they were somewhere they could be given the kind of around-the-clock care she couldn't always provide. They've been in residential placements since around age 10.

Despite Mike and Andy living outside of their home, the family has been very involved with their lives, she said, visiting often, having them over to the house — something she acknowledged isn't possible for every family.

"I don’t look at anybody for whatever decision they make and judge," Agan said. "I know in the past, I’ve perhaps felt like I have been judged, even with friends and family. But as the years go on, I think you realize in your heart ... what is gonna be the best for everyone affected."

America's adult housing crisis

According to The Arc, a national organization that advocates for Americans with disabilities, 4.8 million people with disabilities who rely on federal supplemental security income are being priced out of rental markets, with an average annual income of less than $10,000. Many live with caregivers who are 60 and older, placing them at risk of being moved to an institutional facility or being forced into homelessness.

Peters-Reece said Damar Village is the agency's response to that growing housing crisis.

"In Central Indiana and really across the United States, adults with disabilities are faced with not a lot of great choices," she said. "Unsafe housing, housing in areas that are not ideal, and in areas that really aren't supportive of what their needs are."

Oftentimes, adults with disabilities are in scattered-site housing, meaning they may have housemates, but they aren't living in a residential community built specifically for their needs, which can contribute to feelings of isolation or alienation.

Mosbaugh said she's looking forward to Aaron, who is currently living with two housemates, making friends outside of his own household.

“I’m looking forward to it being a true community," Mosbaugh said, "where he has the freedom to go outside and walk around the community, maybe meet some other residents and at least say hi to them, they would look familiar to him as he walked around.”

Both Agan and Mosbaugh said they look at their sons' upcoming moves to Damar Village as a move to their forever homes.

"As senior citizens, you have to look ahead, and you think: 'OK, he’s probably going to outlive us,'" Mosbaugh said. " And I want him to have a place where he feels comfortable, that’s his home.”

'I want them to be happy'

Once construction is complete, Mosbaugh and Agan said they both envision themselves and their sons spending time in the community building, where Peters-Reece said they're hoping to host activities like movie and game nights for residents and their families.

And that's perfect for Andy, Mike and Aaron. Andy and Mike both love Disney movies — "Snow White," "Fantasia" and "Beauty and the Beast" are among their favorites, Agan said — and Aaron loves to sort and organize his DVD collection. His favorite thing to watch, currently, is "Little House on the Prairie," Mosbaugh said.

More than anything, Agan said she's hoping Mike and Andy's next chapter is joyful.

"I want them to be nurtured, I want them to be safe, I want them to be secure, I want them to be happy," Agan said. "The things that make them happy, and make them smile and make them rock to the music, those are the kind of things that I want to go on for the remainder of their days."

Learn more about Damar Services and Damar Village

To learn more about Damar Village and to submit an application, visit damar.org/damarvillage. To learn more about all the services Damar offers, visit damar.org.

You can reach IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at holly.hays@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'A true community': Damar Village will be home to 120 Hoosier adults with disabilities

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