ABSTRACT
As I looked around the conference room in Monroe Community Hospital (MCH) at all who had gathered for the Young Adults Support Group, I looked from face to face, heart to heart, soul to soul, and was reminded that within each person is a different life experience, an experience that has brought each of them to this institution to live. People are stamped with the genes inherited from their ancestors, just as much as they are indelibly stamped with their cultural heritage and upbringing that makes them such unique individuals. Just as they now all inhabit the same dwelling place, their journey to this time and place has left its mark upon them, heart, body, and soul. Some of these people have been disAbled since birth, some became disAbled traumatically, others slowly by a chronic disease, and still others have an acute illness such as cancer or AIDS. Some have brain damage as a result of their illness or injury, and yet others have lost the use of their body but not their intellectual capacities. Some have very strong family and community support, while some have none.
