Shanti Miller - Shanti Miller Friendship Society

Why We Chose a Vela Microboard

When I was 18 and looking forward to becoming and adult, my mother and I were told that I would need to move from the children's group home I lived in. This was good news to me because I didn't like living in a group home.

My mom and I were very upset when we were told that the only place that the social worker could find for me to live was an extended care ward in a hospital. I didn't want to live in a hospital. I wanted the same things as other people wanted when they were becoming adults. I wanted to have my own place, I wanted to try new things. I wanted to make more decisions in my life, I wanted a boyfriend, and I wanted to travel. I wouldn't do any of that if I was in a hospital.

So my mom started to look for someone to help us. After she made a lot of phone calls she talked to Linda Perry from Vela Microboard Association. Linda was just starting her work creating Vela Microboards. It was 1989 and there were no Vela Microboards in B.C. at that time. Linda met with my mom and I and we all decided that I would have the very first Vela Microboard.

We didn't have any information to go on, so we had to learn together how to create a Vela Microboard. So we spent lots of time talking about who I trusted and would want to help me by being on my Vela Microboard. It was really important that those people were people that respected me and I respected them. So we met with old friends and members of my family and started to talk about what I would like my life to look like. We did lots of talking and planning. This took a while because I had been living in the group home for several years, and I hadn't seen very much of the people I grew up with. It was wonderful for me because I had missed these people and I missed spending time having fun with them.

After several months, with Linda's help, we developed a plan. We worked closely with the staff from The Services to the Handicapped Branch and they provided funding for our proposal. We incorporated the first Vela Microboard in B.C. under Provincial Non-Profit Societies Act. I called my Vela Microboard the Shanti Miller Friendship Society. Linda and I found a place for me to live in Richmond. I chose Richmond because it was flat and I use a wheelchair to get around. I like Richmond.

With help from other Microboard members, Linda, my mom and I also hired staff to support me in my new apartment.
At first I had a hard time figuring out who would be the right people, but with lots of help from my mom and Linda, I learned how to hire staff.

Since that time I have realized a lot of my dreams. I wanted a boyfriend and so started to date. After I had lived in my own place for about a year, I met a man that I really liked. We dated for a year and then he asked me to marry him. I was thrilled. We had a beautiful wedding and I moved to his home town.

My Vela Microboard helped me with all of this. We planned the wedding, we also figured out how I could move and how to set up supports for me in my new town. Even though I had moved to a town over four hours from the Lower Mainland, my Vela Microboard members continued to be invovled in my life and they came to visit me often.

Sadly, my marriage didn't work out. So after a while my Vela Microboard, with Linda's help, supported me to move back to the Lower Mainland of B.C. I couldn't have done it without them. They helped me through a very sad time. But my Vela Microboard members stayed with me, cried with me and laughed with me, until I started to feel better. We picked a wonderful agency, Community Ventures Society, to help with the transition of my services. They helped me to hire staff and to find a place to live. We were very grateful to have the agency help us for a time. Once my Vela Microboard felt ready to take over the running of my services, we again did all the planning, hiring and managing of my services.

Today I have a Vela Micrboard that is an essential part of my close network of family and friends. I live in a home I love. I have staff that I have chosen and I trust them. My days are scheduled in a way that make sense for me. I also do some traveling and public speaking about Microboards so that other people can hear about how great my life is.

I can't believe that if my mom hadn't been so strong back when I was 18, I would have spend the last sixteen years in a hospital. What a difference family and friends can make!!! I love my life and my Vela Microboard.