A month ago, when I had my good friends come stay with me, so that we could all go to the Marillion show as planned for almost a year, my regular schedule was slightly disrupted. I was supposed to go on a tour as part of the "Rotary Day Out," when the group split up and visited different non-profits around the community. I had signed up to visit the Imagine Smart Home. But I allowed myself to focus on my out of town guests, and we ended up in downtown Boulder when I was supposed to be showing up for the tour. A Rotarian called me, to find out if I had gotten lost, and I had to apologize for rearranging my priorities last minute, but I wouldn't be there. One of the leaders in Rotary, who was instrumental in paving the way for this home to be built in town back when she was our mayor, continues to volunteer and work closely with the group. She let me know that they give tours once a month, and she reminded me last week that I had a chance to make up what I missed. I took my chance for a mulligan today.
I didn't know a whole lot about the program until I got there this morning. There are two of these Smart Homes in Boulder County, as part of an advanced system that serves something close to 700 developmentally disabled individuals locally. (As an aside, there was a discussion in the tour about terminology, and why it was important to use positive, inspirational language like "Imagine Smart Home" rather than anything that focused on the more negative implications of "disability.") This particular home has six full time residents, and they are allowed to stay there essentially for life, until/unless they reach a point where their medical care requires more aggressive intervention. The integration of advanced technology, accessible design, and nurturing care was inspiring. The home began with wide hallways, accommodating appliances and spaces, and warm, inviting common areas that other group homes like this have. Then they integrated computers to keep the caregivers in touch at the same time that they provided an astounding level of independence to the residents. There are large touch screen monitors, and iPads that integrate with wheelchairs for people with extremely limited mobility. They have everything covered, from voice-activated apps to assist those without fine motor skills, down to step by step visual instructions so that the residents can feed themselves independently (using an induction stove-top so that they don't burn themselves). The Smart Home has partnered with students at CU, so that the students benefit from having real world experience rather than just theoretical situations from a textbook, and the home benefits from the innovation from fresh minds. They mentioned that the CU kids designed a special laundry hamper that adds a new level of independence for the residents, and that is good enough for them to have a product that may be salable to a broader market.
There was no part of the tour that didn't impress me. Even all of the art in the entire house was done by residents, and it was frankly brilliant. There was a preponderance of abstract art with a striking use of color, but some representational pieces were as cool and cutting edge as any modern art you could find in a gallery. There were several pieces I would have hung in my own house. On the tour, I learned that many of the things they are doing in this program, and in Boulder County as a whole, are on the forefront of this field. They are teaching the rest of the country and the rest of the world how to enrich the lives of developmentally disabled people. There is a group heading to Ukraine next year with the Open World program to bring their methods to a group there that has been stuck with methods that have barely advanced in a hundred years. Imagine what a revelation that will be for people who had been institutionalized just because other resources were never available? Welcome to the future.
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