As promised a couple weeks back, I was going to start a series entitled Moving to the Shadows based on my own experiences of attempting to get out of Southern New Hampshire for a number of reasons, would bring more “hope”. If staying in the Granite State is a must, the best bet is to move to the border regions and into the “shadows”. The two most empathic states per to a Google search was Maine and Vermont, ironically the two least favorite states by me, Connecticut being the first when taking New Hampshire out of the equation, followed by Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Maine or Vermont doesn’t woo me, when I was a kid I chanted “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO FARMER-VERMONT!” Turns out, I wasn’t wrong.
Would I benefit? is there better “supports” in the “community”? Is this the coded messages that the Concord yakkers imply?
I wanted to be methodological if this was to happen. I have written about this before, but things have changed in my life which could cause different outcomes. Reminder, most of this is talking about relocating from an autistic who feels “hopeless”, If you want a typical view of what it’s like to visit the region, read towards the end. I did extensive research and still have an informal plan if I were to go forward with this (spoiler alert: it’s gonna happen.)
Since that posting I’ve learned that my location, my area agency, case management could go anywhere else in the state. Second, last year I spent three day weekends in Portsmouth, Keene and Portsmouth again. Getting to the mountains took a bit longer, and it followed the Total Solar Eclipse in April.
The Northern part of the Granite State has some dirty little secrets related to developmental disabilities that would be devastating to share. One of the major flaws and the requirement of self-sufficiency (which is a complete understatement) is that the area agency and mental health agency are one organization that goes from Pittsburg to North Conway to Littleton. This wasn’t always the case. The Department of Health and Human Services aprox in 2009 during a ten-year recertification with the other designated agencies cut off one or two other area agencies and were required to merge.
The area agency is headquartered in North Conway, according to DHHS’ website (boldfaced by yours truly), they serve “Albany, Bartlett, Bath, Benton, Berlin, Bethlehem, Brookfield, Carroll, Clarksville, Chatham, Colebrook, Columbia, Conway, Dalton, Dixville, Dummer, Easton, Eaton, Effingham, Errol, Franconia, Freedom, Glencliff, Corham, Groveton, Hart’s Location, Haverhill, Jackson, Jefferson, Lancaster, Landaff, Lincoln, Lisbon Littleton, Livermore, Lyman, Madison, Milan, Millsfield, Monroe, Moultonboro, Northumberland, Ossipee, Piermont, Pittsburg, Randolph, Sanbornville, Sandwich, Shelburne, Stark, Stewartstown, Stratford, Sugar Hill, Tamworth, Tuftonboro, Union, Wakefield, Warren, Waterville Valley, Wentworth Location, Whitefield, Wolfeboro, Woodstock”
The boldfaced towns, are towns I selected that are on the extreme ends of their coverage that are at least 50 miles from each other, by car. While it’s only 32 miles on the Kancamgus Highway (or as the youngins say “the Kank” between Lincoln and North Conway, this would put so much wear and tear on the vehicles of case managers or direct supports. The area is more on the poorer side, factoring that Direct Support Professionals are going to be much more dire. Also DHHS recommends a “conflict free case management” meaning the person coordinating the services ought to not be a support. It’s been told to me that some case managers act as DSPs because of the shortage and has been allowed to justify the situation with sources familiar to DHHS.
Since I am so removed from advocacy, the PDFs are somewhere on my multi terabyte storage, but DHHS also been the record for the Autism Spectrum Disorder Registry. And from what I could remember, the ASD cases in the White Mountain region were surprisingly high (and given how the Department of Education’s SPEDIS system also coded SPED students, which made it easier for the Bureau of Developmental Services to log those cases too.) I don’t recall if the number of ASD cases were town by town or by region, just consider that the higher than expected number could be very widespread like the general population, which just makes individualization supports even harder.
When I discovered that, it really caught my attention, that in an area of perhaps the 300,000 part of our population, that in those civilized areas, that autistic disorders didn’t discriminate. While it would take me more time to do more concrete research, just trust me the memory of the northern part of the state has never escaped me, despite traveling there at least once a year as a life long resident.
Would I fit in?
Put it this way: I do not relate to my typical peers, for them up there they have very little supports and groups (and I don’t see anything on social media from the statewide groups) and I don’t recall much about the Northern region for services going up there via the Family Support Conference, which should say a lot. Those folks probably would prefer to be south, but I don’t fit in with my group of people down here, and lack of feeling integrated is so politicized, so taking a risk of limited supports for me, at the hopes that the actual “community” be the solution?
I have some of an urban soul, unlike downstate, where gathering in public is almost a crime and third-spaces are effectively banned, the downtown areas of say Littleton is so cute. Those areas are great for the ones who do not still have a drivers license. Would I ever loose the attraction of going to the mountains or going on the Kank feel like going by 101A? I don’t think so, because the mountains for me (especially in the last decade where I actually went there in the middle of the worst winters in recent memory, 2015 and March of 2017) was so special. I’d go so far to say, I’d be “lost” in the Mountains for all the positive reasons, not the negative.
Going to Milian (via) North Conway for the eclipse was cool. On the way the day before we stopped to see the Swift River covered with some snow on The Kank. All trips prior to the teens were during the summer or fall, the spring was influenced during the years of going to the NHFSC, when I would discover snow while it was 80° outside.
Speaking of the Conway region, I loved going there too. The people are generally more nicer, and that may have to do with it’s all-year tourism, or just I am so used to southern New Hampshire stiffs. Settler’s Green, the long time locally owned, retail outlets (or “outdoor mall”) in North Conway is really cool. Prior to the spring, the last time I visited was in 2016 (a story of that experience will be a separate post), but what I discovered in April walking by the stores was lots of modern art from “local and regional artists” the emphasis on the latter is hopeful given how so many people think the world revolves around New Hampshire. Some of the art looked so cool. Where my work could ever make it there, or if people would be willing to partner with each other is unclear.
The area coffee shops were cool too. The only other one next to me that isn’t a Starbucks is in Derry that is the true “coffee house feel”. One girl at the Met in Downtown was really so sweet her voice was so soft I couldn’t hear a word. Probably 1/2 my age, as that’s a statewide issue too… we as New Hampshirites will have to just stay silent on.
I remember in the fall of 2022, that part of that community had “Code of Conduct” of tolerance, and more appropriate expected social behaviors that I think was set by the local tourist group, I’ll confirm this in my photos I took. From stories I read about Littleton of late, it kinda makes me think the northern part of the state could reverse what damage that the rest of the state has done for everyone. The Southern part is an extension of Massachusetts, but yet we have a governor candidate who was lifer of this state but is as cruel as a stereotypical “Masshole”. Politicizing tolerance for any group is a slippery slope… and no one cares!
I do not want to get into a pissing match of which region is better (which is the Granite State’s past time), but clearly if I were to move to the Mountains, that it would be a big risk. Would I benefit? is there better “supports” in the “community”? Is this the coded messages that the Concord yakkers imply?
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