AFI

Before going to AFI I was a little hesitant. Although I have worked with students with disabilities for the past couple of years, I have never worked with adults with disabilities or even been around them. I was especially apprehensive whenever we pulled in since the location is in a random,weird place. The fact that it’s so old also made me feel weird. I thought it would get better as we started the tour but it definitely did not. Nothing really changed until we did the one on one conversations. I did not feel uncomfortable at all and felt like I had known some of them for a long time. They were so nice and just wanted to talk to someone. One guy in particular was so fascinated with Southeastern University and described certain things about it that he was familiar with. He was also fascinated with the fact that I was in college.

Being around some of the men reminded me of Arnold, Norman, Barry and Lucien. It most definitely made the characters come alive to be around a person with the same characteristics. One man particularly reminded me of Norman because they had similar physical features. I could also understand why Jack would get so frustrated at times. I sometimes was bothered at the fact that they would repeat themselves about 10 times in five minutes, and I was only with them for such a short amount of time.

The financial struggles that AFI is going through made me think of the struggles that the Fetke family had had to deal with. Sometimes I forget about the struggles that come along with supporting adults with disabilities. I can’t not believe that they have gone through the budget cuts that they have. It is sad that it is continuing to drop because the clients are the ones that have to suffer, especially since they need the services so desperately.

Experiencing different aspects that relate to adults with disabilities has definitely opened my eyes and has helped me understand them more and allowed me to become more sensitive to their struggles.