Virginia Givens, 71, and Arlene Lantvit, 45, are an inseparable pair as far as roommates go, but getting around in their Schaumburg split-level home was getting more and more difficult as the years went by.
Givens, whose arthritis grew progressively worse, and Lantvit, who has orthopedic problems, couldn’t manage in their former home, which was not designed for someone with physical handicaps. And both women, who are also mentally handicapped, wanted very much to continue sharing a bedroom and a house.
It all worked out with a new home at 3611 Jay Lane in Rolling Meadows, run by Clearbrook Center for the Handicapped. The ladies, along with the rest of their fivesome-Stephanie Motyka, 70, John Tigerman, 49, and Peter Soutar, 57-transplanted in February to their new ranch home.
“I like this house because it is better looking. The other one I didn’t like because I don’t like stairs,” Lantvit said.
In the past, group homes where unrelated people live together in residential areas required a special-use permit from the city and inevitably meant a lot of red tape.
But now, federal anti-discrimination laws have forced municipalities to ease their requirements. Rolling Meadows now requires only an occupancy certificate and granted it for the Jay Lane house with little problem, said Rodney Blane, the city building and zoning officer.
That’s an encouraging change for Clearbrook President Guerin Fischer, who had to wait up to 1 1/2 years to get the first local homes set up in the suburbs during the 1980s.
“The attitude has changed dramatically in our society about group homes,” Fischer said. “I talked to 20 people in this neighborhood that a group home would be here, and only two had a problem with it.”
As life expectancies increase, the predicament over what to do as developmentally disabled people age has caught up with Clearbrook, Fischer said. The single-level Rolling Meadows home, adapted for its residents’ physical handicaps, is an example of how one social service agency is meeting the need.
Clearbrook spent $24,000 to renovate the home, putting in wider doors, two handicapped-accessible bathrooms, new windows and kitchen furnishings. Other furnishings came from the group’s former house in Schaumburg.
The five residents work day shifts at the Clearbrook Vocational Training Center only minutes away, and are assigned to housekeeping chores back home. The residence was also chosen for its proximity to the Rolling Meadows Senior Center a few blocks away, Fischer said.
Tigerman has scarcely been there a month, but is already looking forward to entertaining friends and barbecueing this summer on the back-yard deck.
“I love this. This is peace and quiet and less pressure,” Tigerman said.
