Tucked away in the non-chaotic countryside of Floyd County is Wall Residences. Other than its aesthetic beauty, it would not be a place to draw a lot of attention, but inside, it’s all about attention. Kamala Bauers M.S. ’99 and her husband Jack Wall set out to prove how paying a little attention turns at least part of the world upside down.

Bauers always believed she could make a difference, and Wall Residences is now one of the most sought-after foster care placement providers in the region. Working with approximately 70 care providers in both southside and western Virginia, they help place people where the care they receive is built around interests of the individual, not what society thinks they need. “If the client enjoys horseback riding and swimming, we try to place them with a family that has horses,” Bauers says. She believes everybody has a right to a quality life, whether that life includes gardening, shopping, bagging groceries, or volunteering at a church.

To prove how society views people with special needs, she cites how people react when they see a group of mentally challenged people. “Their day providers have brought them into town as a group and people are saying things like ‘oh, there’s that person with such and such a problem.’ We want our people to be known by their names, not by their limitations.” She’s convinced that many people society thinks are mentally retarded are simply not allowed to express themself. “They may not know what their desire is because they’re trapped inside their body and mind. They haven’t been given a chance to explore.”

People often say some of her clients are cranky and difficult. Bauers tells them, “Well, if I wasn’t getting what I wanted, I’d be cranky, too.” If they place a client in a home and it isn’t working out, chances are their needs are not being met. If the placement doesn’t work, they search for one that will.

Bauers made the choice not to be nonprofit. “I respect what the nonprofits do, but a lot of the chances you may want to take are limited if you’re operating under a board. It may take month to implement an idea. I can just go try it.” She recalls a gentleman who had been hospitalized in a state institution for 40 years. Though he uses a wheelchair “we took him para-sailing recently. Imagine that, you ought to have seen the smile on his face as he sailed through the air,” she proudly recalls.

With close to 2,000 people now in state institutions she’d like to see a day when there is no longer a need for such places. When this particular outreach has run its course and she feels she’s taken it as far as it can go, she’s willing to try the same thing for patients in nursing homes and adolescent facilities. As Bauers says,“All these people are special. They offer a gift to us by not judging who we are. We should do the same for them.”

The Wall’s mission statement translates the ambitions and hopes of their clients into simple language. It says the goal of the program will be met when all people in the community are able to pay attention to the person behind the disability and know that each person is fully functioning when the appropriate supports are available.

— Bonnie Roberts Erickson