October 10 - world Mental health day.

October is considered as a Mental Health Awareness Month. We decided on this day instead of sharing our stories to watch a heartfelt, eye opening story "The Specials" - "Hors Normes" screened by French directors. More than words kind of initiative. For twenty years, Bruno and Malik have lived in a different world-the world of autistic children and teens. In charge of two separate nonprofit organizations (The Hatch and The Shelter), they train young people from underprivileged areas to be caregivers for extreme cases that have been refused by all other institutions. Life in Canada is pretty different compare to France but services for people with disabilities during their adulthood is not ideal yet. Canada is becoming more and more diverse country and what worked before, is not practical now. We need to change the attitude first.
Some people, when it comes to mental disability or mental illness, pass by thinking this is irrelevant to them, they might be wrong. According to CAMH:

• Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time either through their own experience, or that of a family member, friend or colleague.
• In any given year, 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness.
• By age 40, about 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness.
• Mental illness affects people of all ages, education, income levels, and cultures; however, systemic inequalities such as racism, poverty, homelessness, discrimination, colonial and gender-based violence, among others, can worsen mental health and symptoms of mental illness, especially if mental health supports are difficult to access.
• Another statistics from Autism Speaks site states that according to one research, Mothers of adolescents and adults with autism experience chronic stress comparable to combat soldiers and struggle with frequent fatigue and work interruptions.

Giving our families a choice is not enough: all the options must be equally accessible and affordable. Community can do more for the families and adults with mental disability - from awareness till building the rehabilitation centres. Growing in one community and spending the entire life completely in another environment brings more stress and anxiety to our children,  thus increases the risk of developing other forms of mental illnesses. Thus should we start thinking about housing options for our grown-ups within our own communities instead of sending them to the group homes? Let's think about it together...