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Registering is not possible yet, because there is nothing to register for. What you can do is join the interest list. That is without obligation, costs nothing and commits you to nothing — and it helps us enormously, because we have to show the municipality and the funders how large the demand really is.
The housing is for autistic adults who want to live independently with support nearby. Support runs from someone nearby day and night to one conversation a week, so there is room for very different needs. An assessment under the Long-term Care Act or the Social Support Act is needed in most cases; we will think that through with you.
The programme starts earlier. Young people from around the age of fourteen can take part in the Spectrum Lab, the workshop, the learning routes and the buddy group, and from around sixteen also stay over and try out living in the practice flat. Living itself starts at eighteen: residence below that age falls under the Youth Act and requires a separate licence, and Spectrum deliberately does not do that.
In the municipality of Nissewaard, most likely in Spijkenisse. We are looking for an existing building to convert rather than building new: that is faster and costs less. Nissewaard is also the central municipality for sheltered housing on the South Holland islands, so residents of Voorne aan Zee, the Hoeksche Waard and Goeree-Overflakkee can come here just as well.
That is not final yet, but we are working with a basic rent that stays deliberately below the housing benefit threshold, so that living here is affordable on a Wajong disability benefit. Care is paid for from a personal budget or as care in kind, as with other forms of supported housing. Housing and care stand apart: anyone who needs less care keeps their home.
The initiators are Ayse Guzel and Marco Cowan.
Ayse Guzel runs the restaurant La Vista. Her son is autistic and needs care day and night, so she knows from experience what is needed and what is missing. Care and hospitality are her profession; she also brings governance experience.
Marco Cowan works from CoLu Advies in Spijkenisse. He founded CoLu to contribute to a better world through his work: with every assignment, part of the proceeds goes to a good cause. His brother is autistic — that is where his commitment to Spectrum comes from.
The foundation is in formation. We are working the plan out together with care partners, the municipality and — above all — with the people it is about and their families.
There is a person inside the S. That is the whole point. It is a person moving forward, and that is why the arm is raised — not to be helped, but because there is something to reach. Spectrum is the place where that movement gets going and where talents are brought out.
The colour is golden yellow, and that is no accident. We understand better than most that autistic people are gold. That is what the mark is saying before a single word is added.
What it deliberately does not contain is a puzzle piece. A large part of the autistic community rejects that symbol, because it suggests something is missing or needs fixing. We see it differently.
That is not a figure of speech: municipalities and funders literally ask us for numbers. Signing up commits you to nothing and there is no intake procedure.