Neurodivergent Vermonters are organizing a new mutual aid effort to supply each other with medicines, groceries and ways to take action during an uncertain time.
The effort, led by the Montpelier-based , began earlier this month in response to proposed cuts to Medicaid.
for a that could reduce funding for the for people with low incomes and people with disabilities, in order to pay for tax cuts and more military and immigration enforcement spending.
How funding reductions .
Nationwide, , including more than 152,000 Vermonters. Among them are many of the patients at All Brains Belong: Executive Director Dr. Mel Houser said the nonprofit serves around 350 people, and nearly 40% of them are economically dependent on Medicaid.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really worried,鈥� Houser said. 鈥淏ecause if that funding goes away, they'll lose so much stability and so much of what they depend on for day-to-day life.鈥�
Community care
In addition to providing medical care, All Brains Belong also offers social connection as part of its model 鈥� and so by design, patients know each other and what fellow patients might be going through.
鈥淭he community is so involved in our operations, and so that when the threat came that would put so many of our community members at risk 鈥� I think it was a natural next step for our community members to be like, 鈥楬ey, how can I help?鈥欌�� Houser said.
Community members like Amy Noyes, a 50-year-old Plainfield resident who is both a patient at All Brains Belong and a member of one of its advisory boards.
鈥淲e really want to be proactive to make sure our community members have what they need,鈥� Noyes said. 鈥淧atients are really terrified at the moment. People are saying things like, 鈥業f I don't have Medicaid, if I don't have insurance, like I might lose my house, or I might lose 鈥� I might become really ill again.鈥� And some of the medicines and supplements they need, they're really simple medicines. They're over-the-counter medicines.鈥�
in Vermont. And they鈥檙e things that Noyes, who is autistic and ADHD, said make the difference between them spending their days on the couch in full body pain, versus being physically and mentally active.
鈥淲hat I have noticed in the All Brains Belong community, as we support each other and are taken care of 鈥� as I got better, I can now support other people,鈥� Noyes said.
They helped build , which has an online registry , food gift cards and air purifiers for whoever needs them.
By last Friday, just one week into the launch of the registry, several boxes full of pre-purchased medicines and supplements arrived at the All Brains Belong office.
The Community Health Access Fund is also raising money. Its first big donation of $5,000 came from that specializes in restoring homes and businesses with fire, water, mold and structural damage.
One of the company owners is Summer Stelter, another All Brains Belong patient and advisory board member. And she says she鈥檚 giving money to the fund because that community feels like her family.
And because her fellow patients make her feel seen and heard in a way she never felt before finding All Brains Belong in 2023.
鈥淚 have had lived a life of very much being like, lonely, having suicidal ideation for most of my life,鈥� Stelter said. 鈥淚've been married for almost 19 years, and have a really amazing spouse, but still, for a lot of our relationship, I was still masking in front of him, and I was trying really hard, you know, not to be this defective, weird person that, you know, society had made me feel like I was.鈥�
Stelter received her official autism diagnosis last year, at the age of 42. And she says that鈥檚 given her language to express and advocate for what she needs 鈥� which can be different from how neurotypical people operate.
鈥淚 really do feel so much healing on so many levels, when I'm able to give back and when I'm able to openly talk about who I really am and not feel judged,鈥� Stelter said.
This shared help and healing is something 55-year-old Calais resident Paul McAleer is hoping extends beyond All Brains Belong. McAleer, who is on one of the nonprofit鈥檚 advisory boards, has worked up a script for asking employers to chip in.
He wants more people to start locally and proactively relying on one another during what he calls a 鈥渘ew normal.鈥�
鈥淲e need to start looking to ourselves, because we can't look to the government for much at this point,鈥� McAleer said.
Improving health
All Brains Belong began in late 2021 as a response to the health care system not meeting the needs of the neurodivergent community.
Houser, the executive director 鈥� who is also a member of the community they serve 鈥� points to data showing and .
鈥淚t just seemed like there had to be a better way to do this,鈥� they said.
More than three years later, Houser said All Brains Belong has more demand than its staff of six can meet with direct medical care, which is why it incorporates social opportunities, as well as employment support and neurodiversity trainings for outside organizations. 鈥淭hat is, I think, where the transformation of health happens,鈥� they said. 鈥淥nce people are 鈥� once they feel safe and they're able to connect with community, that's where we really see a lot of improvements in health.鈥�
Houser said the uncertainty and .
鈥淚t's causing direct impact to the autonomic nervous system and the immune systems of our patients,鈥� they said.
Houser added that鈥檚 what also makes this a good time to launch a mutual aid effort.
鈥淪o many of the people we serve, they've been invalidated, dismissed, gaslit,鈥� they said. 鈥淭he idea that a community would show up for them? That is one of the most fundamental health-promoting things that I could ever imagine.鈥�
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