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Joyce and Thomas

Column 'My brother Thomas is not suitable for 'community living''

Thomas has been asked if he wants to get a new house and he has said no. Congregated settings are ideal for some people, writes Joyce Bambury.

IF I WAS asked to describe my brother Thomas, I would say he’s very funny, handsome and a total chancer and that his favourite place in the world is McDonald’s. His various medical and psychological reports would describe Thomas as having a diagnosis of autism, epilepsy and a moderate learning disability.

While both of these descriptions are accurate, they are also incomplete. My brother is person who is wonderful but also goes through life having to cope with a myriad of struggles on a daily basis.

Thomas’ early life

Thomas lived at home until September 1992. He was almost 16 and I was 5 when he moved into St Mary of the Angels in Beaufort, Co Kerry. His challenging behaviour was the reason he required residential care.

I love my brother dearly and don’t like to list negative incidents, but home life was stressful and dangerous while we were growing up. My parents were well ahead of their time regarding knowledge of autism and they brought him to private therapies in Washington and New York to give Thomas his best chance in life.

He does have speech and can communicate with us which is amazing. However, no matter how hard my parents tried my brother wasn’t living a happy life at home.

Thomas moved into residential care and attended St Francis Special School for his last two years of education. He settled like never before. My mother brought him home every weekend, which we still do to this day. I was able to have a relationship with my brother, one without fear. This is fortunate, because now my sister and I are all Thomas has left.

He loves his life and his “home” now

Both our mother and father passed away tragically. My mother and father were Thomas’ champions. They loved him fiercely and when they could no longer keep him at home full time, St Mary of the Angels was a gift. Not just for our family, but for Thomas too. He loves his life and his home. He has his own room and access to so many facilities on the campus.

I firmly believe that having the stability of St Mary of the Angels has helped Thomas to cope with losing Mom and Dad. Now policy makers and the Minister for Disabilities are telling us my brother should be moved from this “congregated setting”.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe Thomas is suitable for “community living”. I’m a special needs teacher and I’ve thought very long and hard about this, believe me. I do know it is the best scenario for many people.

Thomas chose Beaufort

Here is my reasoning at its most basic: if the front door being left open in their home could lead to an emergency, then perhaps “community living” may not be the best option. Thomas’ door isn’t locked during the day and he is safe. There isn’t a code he doesn’t know. He never goes missing and the traffic isn’t dangerous. He has freedom.

But I know Thomas. If he lived elsewhere the door would need to be locked. Immediately his world would be smaller, and Thomas’ behaviour does not improve when he doesn’t have space and freedom.

Thomas has been asked if he wants to get a new house and he has said no. We gave Thomas options and he chose Beaufort. He chose his friends. This policy and various management figures don’t seem to care about my brother’s choice.

People with disabilities need options

I want to believe that the policy makers and ministers want the best for people with disabilities in this country. Well options are the best thing you can give them. Support is the best thing you can give them.

My brother is happy and safe. He has a fantastic home and a family that adores him. I think the government and the HSE need to focus their energies on the time bomb that is people with severe disabilities living at home “with support”. I’d like the government to wake up and realise that the majority aren’t getting the support they require.

I teach children in Kerry whose parents have little to no access to respite. These children are getting no real hands-on therapies although they have a “team”. The system is a joke. Tragedy will be this government’s legacy if something isn’t done.

Joyce Bambury is a special needs teacher in St Francis Special School in Beaufort, Co. Kerry. She lives in Kenmare and is secretary for the St Mary of the Angels Parents and Relatives Association. 

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    Mute I invented the @
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    Oct 9th 2018, 7:26 AM

    Sure. The same Bellingcat that’s run by Eliot Higgins, the same Eliot Higgins that’s a fellow of the Atlantic Council….

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    Mute Philip Exley
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    Oct 9th 2018, 7:49 AM

    @I invented the @: ahh, in the face of all the evidence that keeps tumbling out and in the face of the utterly ludicrous sightseeing cover story with which the Russians insulted everyone’s intelligence…..you choose to believe it’s a frame up.
    I hope you get a good exchange rate for your roubles.

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    Mute Donnacha Bhoicaire
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    Oct 9th 2018, 8:29 AM

    @I invented the @: dont be talking nonsense now. Caught out end of…

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    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
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    Oct 9th 2018, 9:18 AM

    @I invented the @: one thing is for certain, in that if it was a Russian operation the last people they would have used would have been Russians. If you believe this garbage from Bellingcat I feel sorry for you.

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    Mute Boyne Sharky
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    Oct 9th 2018, 10:29 AM

    @I invented the @: So, if I understand your logic, a truth can’t be considered a truth unless… what exactly?

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    Mute Philip Exley
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    Oct 9th 2018, 2:15 PM

    @Patrick J. O’Rourke: they should clearly consider recruiting idiots like you then. I assume you’re not Russian?

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    Mute Mark Jones
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    Oct 9th 2018, 7:38 AM

    Maybe it was the Russians maybe it wasn’t, who cares. It’s not like MI5 or the CIA don’t send assassin’s into other countries to murder people. Pretty sick of all this “The big bad Russians” stuff at this stage.

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    Mute Noel James Doherty
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    Oct 9th 2018, 8:20 AM

    @Mark Jones: all the big boy’s have blood on they’re hands down through the year’s, no more so than the UN & their late intervention in the Balkans not so long ago. It was these lads surely, but what’s going to happen now? An elite crack group of operatives into Russia to get these two, pfft not a hope

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    Mute Liam O’Conchubhair
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    Oct 9th 2018, 9:12 AM

    @Mark Jones: that’s blatant whataboutism, you’re deflecting criticism of Russia by bringing up the CIA and MI5

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Oct 10th 2018, 12:36 AM

    @Mark Jones: They sent spies into the IRA to join the IRA and used this to kill British soldiers with the blessing of the head of the IRA and other times without. In British intelligence even their own citizens are expendable for a result? Have people forgotten the Gilford 4 or Birmingham 6 or the Monaghan and Dublin bombings or even their shoot to kill policies? Even the British Intelligence trained the CIA in torture as well as created the term “Black Propaganda”.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Oct 10th 2018, 12:43 AM

    @Liam O’Conchubhair: Remember that it was the CIA who trained and put into power Bin Laden, the Taliban, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Pinochet, the birth of Isis and the replacement of 50 so called Communist South American governments after WW2. They also created the Iran mess in the mid 1950′s in Iran that has created the Iran of today. How many times have they tried to kill Castro and how many times has the CIA been caught working with the mafia in the US as well as drug running?

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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    Oct 9th 2018, 8:33 AM

    Watch all the Putinbots swarm here trying to spread doubt and lies. They’ll attack the source or deflect and say it doesn’t matter. It does matter. A highly dangerous poison was used which killed and innocent woman. If it happened in Ireland wed think differently.

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Oct 9th 2018, 1:32 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: If it had happened in Ireland nothing would have been done. Since time began intelligence services from all countries have used whatever methods nessecery to protect their country. C.I A., British intelligence, K.G.B. have been responsible for thousands of deaths for years.

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    Mute mattoid
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    Oct 9th 2018, 10:49 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain:
    Although it’s notable that as facts have been uncovered and the “Russia didn’t do it” line has become untenable, the narrative for many of them has shifted to “Well so what if Russia did it, every government does it”…..

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    Mute mattoid
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    Oct 9th 2018, 10:52 PM

    Sometimes it’s hard to tell the Putinbots apart from the useful idiots on here.
    Some are deliberately spreading disinformation and some are just deluded, but they sound much the same in practice…

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Oct 9th 2018, 9:40 AM

    Bellingcat lol. Might as well be reporting the ‘Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’.

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    Mute Diaspora'd
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    Oct 9th 2018, 2:29 PM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: apart Putin himself announcing it was a GRU operation what source or agency’s evidence would you believe?

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Oct 9th 2018, 3:07 PM

    @Diaspora’d: not one that was directly set up for propaganda purposes might be a start.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Oct 10th 2018, 12:30 AM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: Bell*ndcat as some call him?

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    Mute Diaspora'd
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    Oct 10th 2018, 1:45 AM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: I take it then none apart from Putin himself would convince you..

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    Mute Liam O’Conchubhair
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    Oct 9th 2018, 9:17 AM

    All the deflection and whataboutism done by commenters here. Ridiculous.

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    Mute Barry O Toole
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    Oct 9th 2018, 12:56 PM

    @Liam O’Conchubhair: dont think its deflection liam people are merely questioning elements of this a lot of it doesnt add up

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    Mute Philip Exley
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    Oct 9th 2018, 2:58 PM

    @Barry O Toole:
    Answer me this…
    Were the Skripals attacked?
    Did another innocent individual die?
    Were two Russians filmed visiting the area?
    Do you think they flew all the way from Moscow to see Salisbury cathedral?
    Do you think, having gone all that way they went back to London on the first trip because it was too slushy in Salisbury (clue..it wasn’t).
    If you think it doesn’t add up because they were so amateurish I’d say this. They know full well that once they were back in Russia they’d be untouchable and that they could rely on gullible fools to give credence to their ridiculous protestations of innocence and cries of “there’s no evidence” in the face of….all the evidence.
    Do you also believe the Russians just kicked out of Holland were innocent? Maybe they’d gone to have an extended look at the tulips?

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    Mute Barry O Toole
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    Oct 9th 2018, 5:44 PM

    I am sceptical of the narrative being peddled thats all there are many actors in this drama who knows what the truth is

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    Mute Mark Mc Steve
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    Oct 9th 2018, 1:36 PM

    Who actually believes this ha

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Oct 10th 2018, 12:26 AM

    How and why was it Bellingcat who discovered this and no one else as in government bodies???

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    Mute mattoid
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    Oct 10th 2018, 8:38 AM

    @TamuMassif2019:
    What makes you think government bodies didn’t know it from a relatively early stage?

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