Financial Assistance for Handicapped??

[safaulk]

Hi all! I have a strange and unusual question. Our family of 5 is scheduled to go to Disney World next Friday. My husband's handicapped uncle was going to go with us, but his caretaker (my mother-in-law) says she doesn't have the money for him to go. Now, we told her six months ago that we were going, and she said she was going to start saving for him. Now, at the last minute, she says she doesn't have the money for him to go. He is 66 years old but has the mind of a 12 to 15 year old. He had polio as a child, which has left one leg very crippled and warped and has to wear a leg brace for support to help him walk. He also is prone to seizures and can barely speak. It has been his lifelong dream to go to Disney World, and this was supposed to be HIS time. I wish, more than anything, that we had the money to pay for him, but we are financially strapped since I had to quit my job in July, due to health problems and extreme stress.

Now to my question, is there ANY type of program or charity, such as the Make A Wish Foundation, that would help to pay for trips for the handicapped? He is very distraut that he cannot go. He's been asking us just about every day for the past six months, "Are we really going down there (to Disney World)?" We kept teasing him, saying he needed to save up his money, and he'd say he has lots of money saved and he's ready to go. He can't read or write, and he thinks $5 is "a lot" of money. It just breaks my heart that we can't take him with us.

Any leads or suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Stimpy]

Try posting this on the DisABILITIES board, they can probably give you some more advice. Good Luck!

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=20

 

[cathie]

I'm not sure if Make-A-Wish could help, most of their clients are terminally ill children, unless they've changed. There may be other organizations out there that would help but I'm not aware of any. We take our friend Steve (age 46) who has muscular dystrophy & is totally disabled to WDW twice a year. The only assistance he gets is with his nursing care, which is sort of like a respite program. I am one of his nurses @ home & the nursing agency arranges for Steve to have a night nurse while we are on vacation so that I can sleep. (He needs to repositioned several times @ night).Good luck & I hope you are able to grant his wish! Cathie & The Gang

 

[dclfun]

I have ALS which is a terminal illness, and there is no program to assist disabled or terminally ill adults that I know of. Here in Florida, I can't even get nursing care since I'm not a child or elderly ( it's one of only 9 states that doesn't allow for our care and tries to force nursing home placement). Meanwhile, I'm also a widow trying to raise four children. I really feel for your uncle and his situation. It's a shame that there isn't a program in place to deliver wishes to adult disabled and their children or families also. ---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

I can confirm that Make A WISH is only for children - it' not necessarily children with terminal illnesses (although many are); I think the term they use is "life threatening conditions". Anyway, it won't help in this case, since it is only for people under 18.
I don't know of anything that could help in the time frame that you are talking about. The Disney company does have a charitable organization called
DisneyHand. According to the link, they do some WISH granting. I don't know if that includes adults, but it's worth a try, even though the time is very short.

 

[dclfun]

DisneyHand is only for children. Perhaps a local church or charitable organization might help. You may want to contact your local newspaper to see if they could do a feature on your uncle and his wish...there are lots of people out there with big hearts. ---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks, Kathy. Local places might be the best to try.
I would not give it much hope, but would still contact DisneyHand (knowing now that they are just for kids) because if anyone knows of any programs, it would probably be them. I do know there was an adult who got some assistance from the Compassion Program, which was a program before DisneyHand (and I don't know if it exists in a form to give any assistance to adults anymore). That family had a lot of time to work on things though - I think they started a few months before they went.

 

[SueM in MN]

Another thing I just thought of would be to figure out how much money is needed for him to go and instead of trying to get someone to contribute the whole amount, divide it up.
Maybe your immediate family can't afford to pay for him, but if you have 20 members of your extended family who can each afford $20, you've raised $400 toward his trip.

 

[softfluff]

I know this doesn't address the money issue. However, if he can't go there are special travel companys that accomdate the developmentally disabled. We use one for my bil. He had gone to WDW with them twice. He has been on a cruise with them and also gone on several land trips. Sprout is who we use.

 

[chichihoney]

i have socail security income for disabled you ned to signed up www.ssa.org