By Olivia Normandin My 23-year-old nephew, Ben, has lived in a group home in Charlotte, North Carolina, for more than four years. He has many opportunities to visit parks, museums, restaurants and make friends at his day program and group home. Through Ben, I became familiar with Steven, another resident who lives at the group home. A few years ago, my sister, Vanessa, told me that Steven loved creating drawings and giving them to the volunteers she enlisted to help at the group home. At the time, I thought, “I should write to Steven.” But, as life often does, time got away from me, and I never did. This year, I found myself with extra time and began looking for volunteer opportunities in my community. During my research, the old idea of becoming a pen pal came back to me. Ben Pals was born: The name is a play on my nephew’s name and the brainchild of my husband. Ben Pals is a program created to build lasting relationships between individuals with intellectual and developmental disab...
These stories describe our journey with Ben, our oldest son. Ben is a sweet and energetic redhead, born with POLR2A, a rare genetic change. My husband, Ryan, and I try to keep up with Ben and his two younger brothers. I intend to shed insight into raising a child with disabilities and pass on the wisdom we’ve earned over the past two decades.