Mother continues to fight for her son’s rights after the DOJ makes changes to the long-standing Olmstead Decision.
31-year-old Connor Courtemanche may live with autism but it doesn’t define him.
He loves hard, and so does his mother, Misty Mahoney.
“When he loves, he loves fiercely. When he’s angry, he’s angry fiercely. He’s kind, caring and empathetic. He is truth. Everything about him is true. I always say he is a gift I brought to the world,” she explained.
Right now, Connor is thriving in his group home in Danvers.
He’s a big fan of his day program too because among many other things, it sometimes takes him to Endicott Park, where he can see the animals.
“it really has been and created a quality of life for him and he’s living his own life, it’s not what’s being dictated by me, or dictated by anybody else, Connor is in there advocating for himself and they support him, and that’s huge.”
However, these are the exact things, she says, could dissapear depending on what comes next.
The Department of Justice recently issuing a memo narrowing the long-standing interpretation of the Olmstead Decision.
Those changes are concerns about the future of integrated, community-based services for people with disabilities.
People like Connor.
“To say, no, integration is appropriate. It’s owed. It’s deserved. It’s the standard operating procedure and to now have something come out from the DOJ stating nope, that’s not the case, what is going to happen to my child?” she said.
“It lets them live their lives and have a quality of life, that they are part of the decision-making process, it gives them autonomy, it gives them purpose and reason and that’s what they need,” his mother continued.
Mahoney feels the changes to the Olmstead, paired with cuts to Medicaid, could take an already stressed system backwards.
“My son happens to have autism, so the idea that he has autism doesn’t define who he is. He is still a grown adult male who has his likes and dislikes, his thoughts, his agendas, his dreams, his hopes, and his fears. The idea that for some reason that they are for some reason different than anybody else, is Ludacris. Just because he’s not able to present to us in a way, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” she said.
She says what could be even worse, if more isolated, institutionalized care, is brought back.
“I have seen my son in that kind of setting and it would be probably the worst thing I could ever think of him going back to that.. the light was gone in his eyes,” she recalled.
Though nothing has been passed or signed into law yet, she says she can’t afford to wait to speak up.
“That’s the thing I’m afraid of, at my age, I’m at the back nine, what’s going to happen to my child? Who is going to be there to fight for him? Because I’ve done it for the last 31 years. Where’s the idea of doing the right thing for human beings and humanity and showing that respect to them, it’s terrifying.” she said.
The Olmstead has been followed in it’s traditional form for 27 years. That is almost all of Connor’s life.
His mother has already started reaching out to lawmakers to fight for his rights.
Boston 25 has also reached out to Senator Ed Markey’s office, Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office, and Congressman Seth Moulton’s office for comment.
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