BALTIMORE — When you step into the backyard of Moonlit Acres Retreat Farm, you’re greeted by Hannah Olexy’s heat smile and contagious snigger.
“My message for anybody who has a incapacity is to proceed to advocate. If you’re not being heard, proceed to push and advocate, advocate, advocate,” mentioned Hannah Olexy, a peer advocate specialist.
Hannah creates workshops for individuals within the neurodivergent neighborhood, from interactive applications like gardening and yoga to main courses on peer-to-peer abuse and neglect coaching.
“I really feel like there’s not sufficient individuals who pay attention or eager to share as a result of they’re afraid to. It’s actually empowering to listen to everybody’s story. It provides me the chills,” mentioned Olexy.
Around 30% of individuals with disabilities endure from some kind of mistreatment, whether or not it’s verbal, bodily, or monetary abuse at house or within the office.
“I labored at a hospital with meals providers for a really very long time and I didn’t have the perfect experiences there simply because I needed to do a number of totally different jobs they usually weren’t being very particular the place to go or what I used to be going to see and it form of made me really feel uncomfortable,” mentioned Olexy.
25-year-old Hannah has Turner Syndrome, a genetic situation that impacts solely ladies. It occurs when one of many x chromosomes is fully or partially lacking inflicting a shorter stature, coronary heart issues, and reproductive points.
“In this subject, there’s nonetheless this concept that folks with disabilities can’t assist individuals with disabilities. That’s a wall we needed to work by with Hannah and break down,” mentioned Todd Bonney, the Assistant Director at Moonlit Acres Retreat Farm.
Bello Machre in Glen Burnie serves about 400 individuals yearly, offering housing and profession teaching.
“We need individuals to reside full lives and full lives contain being a part of a neighborhood and having associates like Hannah be part of your life,” mentioned Robert Ireland, the CEO of Bello Machre.
Hannah receives job coaching by Bello Machre whereas working full-time at Moonlit Acres, a retreat farm in Carroll County for the neurodiverse neighborhood.
“I work with them 1 on 1 individually, it’s fairly superior. They’re my finest associates,” mentioned Olexy.
“Not solely did we notice she will present service however in some ways she’s doing it higher than we do. We discovered a lot from watching her, she’s so intuitive. She can see somebody and notice what they’re struggling with. Do we’d like endurance right here or do we’d like intervention,” mentioned Bonney.
The farm companions with Bello Machre which gives wrap-around providers together with housing and life expertise teaching for all ages.
“When individuals exit the college system that neighborhood disappears. We want locations like Bello Machre and Moonlit Acres to offer a neighborhood for individuals to make connections,” mentioned Bonney.
