Picture This

Linda comes home after work, walks through  a warm, welcoming entrance and takes the elevator up to her own apartment. Tonight she is having dinner with her neighbors in the gathering space downstairs, (sometimes she prefers to cook for herself in her apartment). There will be a big noisy table of people, but tonight Linda wants a little more quiet, so she heads for one of the smaller tables where her friends Ned and Trudi are already sitting.

After everyone helps with clean-up, Linda’s friends decide to play cards. Some residents retire to their apartments, gather around the big screen TV to watch the game or workout in the fitness room. Others go outside for a walk or game of volleyball. A small group is going to the new Star Wars movie tonight.

Dinner was prepared by tonight’s cooking crew, following the menus planned by and budgeted for by the cooperative. Linda serves on the shopping brigade.

Linda’s family comes for a surprise visit this evening and they all go into one of the more private social rooms to catch up on family news. Her brother, who came into town for a couple of days, will be staying in one of the guest rooms tonight.

Tomorrow there will be a Co-op meeting, and they will be voting to allocate the maintenance funds (new carpeting in some units, or landscaping for the patio?) and they will interview new applicants, who have already been cleared by a thorough background screening. Each resident gets one vote.

Is Linda an adult with DD or an adult from the general population? Can’t tell? That is the right answer! This will truly be a home where all tenants live as independent adults!