This is the story of two neighbours.

In the house of a service for people with disabilities lives a very nice young man of 38 old with a severe intellectual disability. He lives together with 5 disabled persons and friends in this community based settings and has been living here for ten years.

Previously he lived in various institutions since his early childhood. He has a very open and friendly character, and he gets into contact with people very easily. He works in a sheltered workshop of the service in the village.

A nice old lady is the immediate neighbor of the setting. Apparently she and her husband have very good relationship with the setting and they are in a daily contact with the residents. There is a gate in the fence between their and the residence’s garden so that they can visit each other more easily.

Nevertheless relationship was not so cordial from the very beginning: before she got to know the residents she did not like the idea of having disabled people in the neighborhood but they did not protest either. Shortly after residents moved in they established a very good relationship that can serve as an example of the acceptance of disabled people in local communities.

Description of the setting

“Arche” is a community in a village outside Budapest. The organization was started in 1990 based on Jean Vanier’s principles. Currently they operate two residential settings and a sheltered workshop in the village. One of the settings is now being reconstructed and expanded to host more residents. The first setting has 6 residents and the other has 3. According to the principles of the Arch staff and residents live together permanently. Most of the staff members are not professional care workers and more importantly fluctuation is rather high and continuity is lacking.

The Fence

None of the staff members could really tell me about the neighborhood’s reaction when the setting was opened. In a way this is not a bad thing that they are only familiar with the present “friendly situation”, but indeed there was some resistance against the setting. Previously the story of this setting was often used to show how relationship can improve with neighbors: before residents moved in, neighbors demanded to make the setting as “invisible as possible” so that they do not have to see disabled people when they go out to their yard – i.e. they wanted to have a fence. But once they actually got to know the residents, they opened a gate in the fence so that residents do not have to go all the way around to the street when they want to visit them. This gate is really symbolic and shows how disabled residents were accepted by the neighbors.

The story of B.

B. lives together with 5 disabled flat mates but soon two more persons will move in. He has been living here since the setting was opened. Previously he lived in various institutions. The last one was an institution of the Calvinist Church. The woman who was head of the Arch then visited this institution to recruit residents for this setting. They talked and he liked the idea very much and decided to move here. He does not regret it at all because he likes living here very much and staff members are also nicer. So it was his decision to come here, he wanted to live here. According to him neighbors have also been very nice and he immediately got to know S. and became very good friends. He regularly visits her through the gate on the fence. They often talk and he tells her about everything that happens in the setting. Sometimes she also visits him, for example he invited her to see his new hi-fi he has bought recently. He does not really know the other neighbors, only S. but “that is enough because she is my good friend”. He says he has become a lot “cleverer” since he moved to the setting: now he knows “a lot of phone numbers and addresses by heart”. He has also learnt how to clean his own room and how to cook some simple dishes. He likes very much his flat mates and his neighbors as well. He knows well the neighborhood, he likes going for a walk. He does not know many people, only a few but he knows these more closely. He has “a plenty” of friends, mainly his flat mates, the neighbor and people from places they visited with the organization.

The immediate neighbour's story

She describes the neighbourhood as nice and peaceful. They moved here together with her husband 50 years ago when they bought a small piece of land here and built their own house. Since then the village and the neighborhood developed a lot, population grew considerably and there are many new buildings. She first heard about the setting when they came to see the house they bought later. They came and introduced themselves to her and “initiated friendly relationship”. In the beginning some people “tried to scare” local residents saying that the new neighbors would be noisy and dangerous thus they were not very enthusiastic about the idea. Therefore they were rather cold and wanted to keep distance but in 1-2 years relationship turned into a friendship. And then they decided to make that gate on the fence and create a “shortcut” for visiting each other. In general, other neighbors like the residents of the setting as well. The local community is nice, people have good relations with everyone and there are no conflicts among local residents. She is happy to have the setting in her neighborhood. As for the nature of their relationship: they are kind of friends both with the residents and some of the staff members. They visit each other regularly and also help each other with shopping and work in the garden. For example if residents go to the local store they never forget to ask her whether she needs something. She especially likes B. who is very friendly and talkative, he visits her quite often, asks whether he is taking her time and then sits down and talks about different things. But in general residents are very nice and polite, they could serve as an example for ordinary people as well. She has never heard them arguing with each other or doing anything negative. She also noted that it is amazing how much the residents developed since they moved in. In the beginning most of them could hardly talk and by now they go shopping independently. She thinks there should be more settings like this and more disabled people should be given the possibility to live in such conditions. Her opinion and attitude changed since she got to know disabled people. Now she thinks more positively about them compared to when she did not have own experience.

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