Bruce
Bruce was one of the last seven individuals to leave a state institution prior to its closure in late 1995. He and three other men moved to a newly developed, CSI-supported group home. His needs for supports were well known to be intensive.
Bruce is a large man, who was prone to hitting himself, causing bruising and sometimes even bleeding to his head and face. To protect Bruce from self-injury, he was often restrained daily, sometimes several times a day, particularly in the hour 7-8 AM. We had many ideas to explain his actions, the most probable being that Bruce needed the morning routine to meet his every wish. He simply found it exceedingly difficult to wait while the needs of the others were being met. Unfortunately, he lived with three housemates and at times it was 
difficult to accommodate Bruce’s wishes quickly enough. Bruce would hit himself after redirection was ineffective, he would be restrained, and this pattern was repeated daily.
Coincidentally, a local building contractor, Jack, was on-site, having been hired to make renovations to the home, including the build-out of a walk-out basement. He started work at 7 AM each morning and heard the commotion upstairs leading to restraints every morning. One day Jack came to the home’s Program Manager and asked if he could take Bruce for breakfast with his contractor buddies at 7 AM. Bruce adored Jack, and clearly it seemed to be a good idea. CSI concerns included driving in a person’s private vehicle, the contractor not being a CSI employee, and what to do if Bruce were to “have a problem” in the community. Jack stated there simply would not be a problem and spoke about dignity of risk and his idea that people will generally rise to our minimum expectations.
Jack expected Bruce to find it difficult to wait for his breakfast and for the first few weeks he called his breakfast order in ahead of leaving. He and Bruce went to a small breakfast/lunch establishment nearby where every morning a number of contractors and tradesmen met to touch base and share information. After a week, Bruce was able to sit and order his breakfast together with the guys and stopped needing to be the center of attention. On one occasion the Program Manager went along to see for herself and several things struck her: Bruce walked into the restaurant and everyone knew him, greeting him. Bruce knew several people by their first names, particularly the waitresses. Although it was not discussed, as soon as Bruce sat down at a large table where a number of people were sitting, he was given orange juice and a muffin and then ordered his own breakfast with the assistance of the waitress who seemed to be comfortable with him and understood him well. Bruce then waited looking through a small book, which someone handed to him. When Bruce’s breakfast came, one guy cut up his pancakes, another kept his glass full of orange juice, while a third indicated through hand movements for Bruce to slow down and chew. Throughout, the men talked business and Bruce was simply a part of it. Unsurprisingly, there were no more restraints in the morning!
To fast forward to today, 12 years later, Bruce continues to live in his country home. Jack remains a part of his life, and Bruce has recently become a visual artist, whose artwork will be shown in Spring 2007 at an area community center.