Once Institutionalized, Mark is Now Using His Voice By Sherry Bale “While I was only four years old when he left, I have many precious memories of things we did together,” said Mark Cunnane’s sister Louise Martin. “Being small, I didn’t even second-guess that on Saturdays, our family would go to visit Mark. That’s just what we did.” Born with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), Mark, now 68, was seven years old when his parents had to move him to an institution. “Mark was probably one of many people whose lives consisted of being sedated and placed in a corner,” Louise added. As awareness grew about IDD and how to better help people who have them, the state closed the institution—and others—and moved people to group homes. “It was wonderful for him,” Louise said. That was 30 years ago. The home was run by the state, and Mosaic took it over more than six years ago. When she first met Mark, Mosaic Area Manager Allison Leue said, “Mark’s history showed he had stopped speaking around the age of 40 for ‘unknown reasons,’ and he also showed extreme behaviors to the point he didn’t want us to take him to any doctor appointments, which he really needed.” “One of the biggest things Mosaic did for him was to wean him off of many medications,” said Louise. “Unfortunately, the medications did damage to his teeth, and he’s cross-eyed because of them. I’m sure there are other physical things adversely affected that can’t be seen. Emotionally, however, as he came off of the medicines, he wanted to partake in a lot more activities [such as going to a doctor] whereas he didn’t before.” “Mark had a best friend for more than 50 years who was also in the same institution, and they were both transferred at the same time to the group home,” said Allison. “They were always together and helped each other. When his friend passed five years ago, we were concerned it would set Mark back. But, he actually blossomed; we think he may have held back on opportunities to protect his friend. “For example, two years ago, I was about to give himmedicine his doctor wanted him to take for physical reasons,” Allison said. “He said ‘no’ to me, which made me more happy than I can describe! It was such a powerful 6 | Promise
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