{"id":2587,"date":"2022-03-09T07:50:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T07:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alsoweb.org\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2023-12-29T19:42:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T19:42:34","slug":"to-be-in-the-community-and-live-like-anybody-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alsoweb.org\/nonprofit-blog\/to-be-in-the-community-and-live-like-anybody-else\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo be in the community and live like anybody else\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Spotlight on ALSO External Affairs Committee Member Kaaren Londahl<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"kaaren-londahl\"<\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren Londahl gives the word \u201cactive\u201d a whole new meaning. Besides working as a greeter at Community Pathways, she takes classes at PHAME, a fine and\u00a0performing arts academy, and volunteers there as Facilities Assistant. She served two terms on the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities and currently sits on the boards and committies of four non-profits: ALSO<\/a>, The Arc of Oregon, Independence NW, and the Oregon Self Advocacy Coalition, who named her 2018\u2019s Self-Advocate of the Year. Kaaren hasn\u2019t let quarantine keep her down, either. Though the pandemic has curtailed many of her in-person activities, she stays active virtually, connecting with others via her iPad and Zoom.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What\u2019s behind Karen\u2019s appetite for service? She\u2019s on a mission. She wants people experiencing intellectual and developmental disabilities (I\/DD)\u00a0 \u201cto be in the community and live like anybody else.\u201d After all, that\u2019s what she does. Kaaren has a job. She pays taxes. She bought her own house, where her only roommate is her dog, Honey Bee. Tireless, enthusiastic, and optimistic, Kaaren is a true self-advocate, one who frames her successes as achievable goals for others.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI will tell you about the history of Oregon.\u201d<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Like any good advocate, Kaaren wants people to know how far we\u2019ve come. \u201cHave you ever heard of Fairview?\u201d she asks. Though she didn\u2019t live there, the former Oregon institution with the dark past is part of Kaaren\u2019s history. \u201cMy mother was one of the people who closed Fairview,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I was on one of the hearings that they had to close Fairview down. They promised that the money [from the sale of the property] would go to people who could live on their own.\u201d That promise was kept. The institution was closed in 2000, and money from the property sale funded the Fairview Housing Trust*, which provided grants to people with disabilities for home modification, helping them to live independently.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren also helped people become more independent by working to pass the Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE<\/a>) Act, which allows qualified individuals with disabilities to put money in tax-advantaged savings accounts. Prior to the ABLE Act, people with disabilities could have just $2000 in assets without risking loss of many federal benefits, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Since the act\u2019s passage in 2014, people with disabilities can save up to $100,000 without losing eligibility. \u201cPeople can save money and build their bank up a little bit,\u201d says Kaaren, \u201cto buy a house, or a car, or help them go through college.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cLet your kids grow.\u201d<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren\u2019s mother Pauline inspired her to become a self-advocate. \u201cShe taught me to be independent and not to be afraid.\u201d Kaaren shares that message with the parents who advocate alongside her. \u201cAt first I was scared talking to parents but then you wake up and you realize you’re in the same room\u2026connecting with them\u2026I helped parents out who had people who had a disability. I said, \u2018Let your kids grow. Let them be independent. They’re not going to be babies anymore. They have to find their own way to live.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She knows her advice has hit home. \u201c[One mother] told me you really made my family grow a lot because my kid is independent.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cLearn to be self-advocates.\u201d<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren talks to her peers as well as parents. \u201cI want people to live independently and have people not be afraid to speak up,\u201d says Kaaren. \u201cI want people to have their voice\u2026They should use their voice and speak up and say what they want for their life.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s important that elected officials hear those voices, says Kaaren. She encourages self-advocates to talk to legislators, and to focus on their individual stories. \u201cOne person might say we need better healthcare, and another person might say that they take buses back and forth to their work, or they need help to go to college. Tell them [legislators] about it so they can help people.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren also wants people experiencing intellectual and developmental disabilities (I\/DD)\u00a0to choose their elected officials and has worked hard to get out the vote. She urged her peers to get their ballots in, and asked PAs (Personal Agents), also known as case managers) to talk to the people they support about the voting process. \u201cWe can’t tell people who to vote for, but we can just say get your ballot in.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI will be your back-up person.\u201d<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Being a self-advocate doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t need support. \u201cIf we didn’t have PAs people would fall through the cracks,\u201d Kaaren says. \u201cPeople need support people to help them out.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And they need people like Kaaren. \u201cI know how they struggle but sometimes they don’t have to,\u201d she says. \u201cThey can reach out to people who self-advocate. They need mentors like me, people they can talk to\u2026I’ll say, \u2018Go for your future. Don’t be afraid. I’m here for you. I will be your back-up person.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaaren means it. She\u2019s on a mission, promoting independent living to everyone<\/a>, everywhere, whenever she can. When an interviewer mentions her five-year-old son, Kaaren smiles. \u201cIf he needs to be independent,\u201d she says. \u201cI can teach him to be independent.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

* In 2019<\/strong>, Oregon SB491<\/a> transferred the responsibility for administering the Fairview Housing Trust from the state Department of Human Services to the Oregon Community Foundation.<\/sub><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spotlight on ALSO External Affairs Committee Member Kaaren Londahl Kaaren Londahl gives the word \u201cactive\u201d a whole new meaning. Besides working as a greeter at Community Pathways, she takes classes at PHAME, a fine and\u00a0performing arts academy, and volunteers there as Facilities Assistant. She served<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-blogs","category-miscellaneous"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nALSO Committee Member Profile | Kaaren Londahl of Portland, OR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this ALSO committee member profile, Kaaren Londahl shares why she has become an advocate for supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alsoweb.org\/nonprofit-blog\/to-be-in-the-community-and-live-like-anybody-else\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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