COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ability Matters provides community-based help and support for kids and young adults with autism and disabilities.
- A lot of the kids and adults they work with are high risk for catching COVID and wouldn't be comfortable in a hospital environment
- The staff says it’s been crucial to limit contact and do daily wellness checks to ensure safety
- The CEO says when it comes to the reopening, they will err on the conservative side
What You Need To Know
Dr. Kristyn Butler founded the organization about 6 years ago. She says when the coronavirus hit, they had to quickly learn to adapt — but they haven’t been doing it alone.
“It’s been a lot, I”ll be honest. But the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities sends out a guidance every day at around 6’oclock and they have been wonderful and supportive," said Dr. Butler. "Our staff, about 98 percent of our staff has maintained, which is amazing I am so proud of them.”
One of those staff members is Andrew Hightower, who on this day, was helping with Ability Matters consumer Bryan Griffith.
“It has been an adjustment it has been stressful. I am super glad we are essential workers. I am so glad I’ve been able to help the families I’ve been helping during this time,” said Hightower.
The staff says it’s been crucial to limit contact and do daily wellness checks to ensure safety.
“We’ve modified schedules, we’ve tried to eliminate cross-contamination so very few staff will work with more than one student or one consumer,” said Dr. Butler.
”Every provider has a screening questionnaire we have to fill out, we have to take our temperature, we have to take our consumers' temperature,” said Hightower.
Dr. Butler says it’s very important to make sure people with disabilities know why things are happening and even though their schedules are changing, they are being replaced with new activities.
“It’s a very sensitive topic for people with disabilities, and especially Ability Matters, because our number one mission is to be included in the community and so isolation is very risky for people with disabilities,” said Dr. Butler.
They’ve created social stories that help people with autism develop a better social understanding, arts and crafts, outdoor activities and have relied heavily on technology.
“A lot of individuals with disabilities and autism love technology, so we’ve tried to incorporate that in and embed that also within the day, doing FaceTimes and Google Meets and Zoom and all of those pieces help them stay connected to their friends and sometimes their job sites, but most of their jobs are on pause,” said Dr. Butler.
I caught up with consumer Bryan on video chat to learn what new activities he’s been up to now that his job at a local gym is on hold.
Bryan: “We made an art project, like a flag. It’s a flag on it.”
Hightower: “Did you paint the flag?”
Bryan: “I painted the flag. I painted a red and blue one. It was really cool.”
Bryan: “We go outside, to the park, walk around, I love walking.”
Bryan: “I make a necklace for my mom and dad and grandma Patty.”
These activities are helping to keep them connected to the community while we all work to get back to what will become our new normal.
“We have over 200 staff and, you know, 80-90 consumers and students. I have to say I feel lucky to be in the state of Ohio and how they’ve reacted. It’s been really wonderful,” said Dr. Butler.