Anna Gorman, Campus Carrier staff writer
After breaking ground over spring, construction for Amber Grace, a residential community for those with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) — referred to as “Neighbors” by the development — continues on Mountain Campus.
According to Jennifer Durham, an administrator for Amber Grace, most of the buildings’ foundations have been poured, and framing is currently in progress.
Amber Grace is scheduled to open in fall of 2025 according to its website. When it opens, it will be a residential community aimed to provide supportive learning and work opportunities for those with mild IDD.
The Amber Grace project is named after the co-founders’ daughter, Amber Grace, who was born with Down Syndrome. Durham is the co-founders’ niece, and Amber Grace’s family lived across the street from Durham.
“I grew up with her, learning how to interact with her and communicate with her and watching how my aunt had to navigate the different challenges where she was concerned,” Durham said. “And we’ve just all been super supportive of each other. I’m the oldest of all of my cousins, and Amber is one of the youngest, so our seasons in life never crossed a whole lot, so it feels really good for me now to be able to give a little bit more of myself to be involved in her life in this way.”
Michelle Haney, a psychology professor and the director of Berry’s Inclusive Post-Secondary Education (IPSE) program — which aims to provide support for individuals with IDDs as they transition from high school into the community — said IDD is a spectrum when it comes to how much support a person needs. Some may be nonverbal or have more complex medical needs. This spectrum makes housing an issue for families
with IDDs.
“I understand that some families fear that something bad will happen to their beloved child with a disability if they do not have a safe place to go,” Haney said. “For those families, I think a place like Amber Grace is really valuable and important. It’s a comfort from what I understand, and I think it’s going to be a beautiful, enriching, supportive place.”
Haney said it is imperative that those with IDDs have choices with regards to housing, because they used to be placed in institutions, and while institutionalization has been curtailed in recent decades, many individuals with IDDs do not have places to live or communities to participate in.
“There’s also 7,000 people waiting for group home placements,” Haney said. “We want there to be choices, so some people might be best living with extended relatives their whole lives. Some people might want desperately to live just like you probably do in their own home someday, and not live under family. They may want to be independent adults. Some people in some families might feel really good about a place like Amber Grace that is going to be safe, that is consistent with their beliefs.”
Due to stigma, lack of opportunities and segregation, having an intellectual disability impacts every aspect of the lives of those with IDD, according to Haney. Laws allowed those with IDDs to be sterilized without their consent continuing up until the 1950s. It wasn’t until 1975 that people with IDDs were allowed to go to public schools.
“That seems like a long time ago, but I was already in elementary school,” Haney said.
Activists are currenty campaigning to allow people with IDDs to vote, and people with IDDs are the one group of people to which it is legal to pay below minimum wage.
Haney said she would love to partner with Amber Grace in any way possible.
“If there are ways to connect with the people that end up living there, making Amber Grace their home with the activities we do, our social programs, helping them if they’re thinking about maybe trying to [help], if one of the folks wanted to get a job on campus,” Haney said. “Any way we could partner. Do they want to take a class? What does that look like?”
The decision to have Amber Grace on Mountain Campus came about because Amber Grace’s co-founders, David and Debbie Turner, had familiarity with Berry and the WinShape program. David was involved with Chick-fil-A.
“It just sort of made sense where they wanted to do it off, of Lavender Mountain Road,” Director of Auxiliary Initiatives and Partnerships Leah Cobb said. “Berry is, for the most part, a very safe community. The Spires is a wonderful community. And so I think, not only location-wise but also proximity to other communities, that are very residential and honestly have very similar missions really made that sort of an easy decision for them.”
The land Amber Grace will be built on is also part of Freemantown, a settlement founded by newly freed African Americans after the Civil War. As a valued aspect of Berry’s history, Amber Grace does not hope to take away from that history, Cobb said.
“The land for Amber Grace should not interfere or detract from the history and significance of Freemantown,” Cobb said. “I don’t think in any way the decision to allow Amber Grace to build there conflicts with the significance and importance of Freemantown, and there was no intention for it. If anything, I think it will continue to be highlighted because of the addition of Amber Grace being there.”
Cobb described the partnership between Amber Grace and Berry as organic. Something like Amber Grace could open up new opportunities for both Berry students and Neighbors, such as job opportunities, educational opportunities and mentorships.
“When [the Spires] opened their doors, there wasn’t a ton of interaction, partly because we opened during Covid, but partly because that relationship wasn’t established,” Cobb said. “I hate to continue to go back to the Spires, but those students have been a huge driving force in what that relationship looks like. And I hope the same will be the case for Amber Grace.”