Kimi: A Beacon of Hope
Always a Strong Advocate
Since graduating high school, Kimi has been with Jay Nolan with Community Facilitator services and has been a strong advocate for her needs and rights. Kimi is never afraid to be vocal about what she wants. As a long time member and representative of the JNCS Open Advocacy Forum, she does a great job of bringing awareness to many different situations and serves as an activist for herself and others.
A Social Butterfly
Kimi has always been such a free spirit as well as a social butterfly. She loves to interact and talk with people all the time. Her support person, Myrna, smiles and says Kimi is “extremely social” and that she “loves to get together with friends and her boyfriend.” She met her boyfriend, Jeffery, through the services they were in because they shared the same support person at one point. They’ve been best friends ever since they were first introduced and they love each other very much.
Jeffery and Kimi also both share a love for Disney. They plan trips and dates to Disneyland regularly, usually dressing up too. Kimi’s favorite characters are the classic Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Her favorite thing to do at the Disneyland and California Adventure parks is explore every avenue and street. She loves taking in all the magical sights. Kimi was even supposed to have breakfast with the characters on her birthday this year but unfortunately, the breakfast was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Life Since the Pandemic
Myrna admits that since COVID, “everything has changed.” It’s been challenging for Kimi and her staff because they’ve always been so used to going out and mingling with others. Now Kimi’s schedule has almost completely converted online. She is always looking forward to the online Bingo games hosted by Jay Nolan and meetings with the Open Advocacy Forum online every Wednesday. Thanks to Zoom and FaceTime, she is able to continue engaging with friends and family. For Jeffery’s birthday however, she was able to participate in the drive by celebration.
Being the extrovert that Kimi is, staying at home was not ideal. But not once did Kimi sit back and give up. She made every effort to call and talk to her loved ones. She asked to go for drives, cook, and play games to stay busy. Not only was Kimi determined to continue living the way she wanted, but her amazing staff assisted her throughout the entire process without fail. Kimi continuously demonstrates her joyous personality and kind heart even under these difficult circumstances, making her beautiful soul a beacon of hope to those lucky enough to know her.
Read More: Kimi was featured in the JNCS Annual Report last year! Read about her life before COVID-19 HERE.
Help make sure Kimi and other individuals with Autism and other developmental disabilities in California receive the support they need to be successful:
