This fund was established within the Guelph Community Foundation in 2024-2025,
in memory of Andrew John Bloomfield, founder of Bridges in 2004.
Gerald and Elizabeth Bloomfield of Guelph, moved by the recent death of their son Andrew aged 55, are initiating a fund in his memory with the Guelph Community Foundation (GCF).
Andrew had been severely affected throughout his life by communication and movement disorders that prevented him from speaking with his voice. He was greatly encouraged and supported in all his efforts by his twin sister, Victoria, who was devoted to his well-being but died tragically in a winter traffic accident. We dedicate this fund to honour both Victoria and Andrew.
In his early twenties Andrew taught himself to read and copy-type. He discovered that with an assistant stabilizing his movement he could express his own thoguhts and wishes, however laboriously, on a keyboard. In 2004 he brought together a small group of similarly challenged individuals from other regions of Ontario who each, with great effort, communicated in a similar way. This group, named Bridges-Over-Barriers, met primarily in Andrew’s home and was sheltered for twenty years by Guelph Services for the Autistic (GSA), a local charitable organization. Andrew asked in his will that the work of Bridges – bringing non-speaking adults with high needs together to share thoughts and be given a voice in how their lives might be shaped – be continued as a legacy project.
In 2014, typing with support on a device with text-to-speech output, he made the following statement:
I am the Author of my story. I need always to have my voice heard. Even though it is a light tap of the keys rather than a loud-sounding voice from my mouth, it is powerful and full of meaning. When we cannot talk in one way or another, we lose our cool and get very angry or frustrated. I need to have my way to communicate or I will explode.
To be seen and heard and believed to be intelligent adults, and not disabled children, makes a difference in how we see ourselves. I pick up on your attitudes and perceptions. If I am with people who convey they do not believe I am able to talk, then I lose my own confidence and prove their disbelief.
You can look at how our lives have changed since we have been given a way to express our thoughts and words. We are people who experts said do not like to be touched and we allow our bodies and typing arms to be supported and stabilized. We are people who experts said have short attention spans to tasks, but I stay in a conversation for two hours. We can listen closely to others and are more able to participate in what life has to offer.
I am the Author of my words. Never give up on finding a way to give someone without a voice a means to communicate. We have a lot of catching up to do since many of us have been effectively mute a large part of our lives. You need to listen and make sure you are hearing all the messages with both your eyes and ears.
It is my decision because it is my life to live. I need to hear from others to make an informed decision but the end result is what I need and want. I make my decisions with the support of my friends and family. I need to have them to make sure I am heard correctly.
I am the Author of my life. I dream to be free. I dream to be me. My hope is to give others hope. I am a man who was behind the cement walls of a prison imposed by a system that could not see people’s potential. If I can now talk to others like intelligent people do, then most any dream can come true!
We envision a Fund to encourage and enable non-speaking adults past school age to express their thoughts and thus help themselves to make decisions about their own lives.
What has already happened?
Andrew started the group called Bridges-Over-Barriers in 2004 and asked in his will that this be continued as a legacy project. Bridges has been supported by volunteer efforts and donations through the non-profit charity Guelph Services for the Autistic (GSA) ever since, mainly for members in southern Ontario but with wider outreach as well.
Qualities of this project:
– Its focus on developing the communication of those with high, complex needs – not just on adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This type of support is certainly lacking in developmental services.
– Its focus on adults, excluding those who have been already able to benefit from preschool and school-age communication programs.
– Recognition of the diversity of special populations, especially those with ASD.
– The vital importance to each communicator of being believed in.
– Its support of a variety of communication methods, based on what proves most expressive for each individual.
– Its connections with people well beyond our Guelph community as Bridges-Over-Barriers has developed for the past 20 years.
Kinds of people involved in project:
– Non-speaking adults with high complex needs that may include Autism.
– Therapists able to assess strengths and difficulties and to match individuals with qualified and empathetic assistants or facilitators.
– Understanding communities of families, friends and neighbours who are willing to accept and encourage people who are different.
– Teachers and other professionals who welcome students trying their best to communicate.
– Donors and sponsors for individual communicators with their therapists.
Possible events/activities to establish new phase of Bridges from 2024:
– Produce research summaries: Reviews of literature on what kinds of people respond best to specific communication methods. Use GSA’s OAARSN website.
– Contact all possible speech language professionals through those we know already. Learn their experience with non-speaking/autistic people. Ask for referrals to others.
– Organize learning events. Could be modelled on Focus on Microboards provincial conference organized by GSA in Guelph in 2001 and form basis for developing a community of communicators.
– Contact all known communicators who use effective intervention. In a simple survey, canvass opinions on how they have been able to overcome being non-speaking?
– Organize a virtual film festival of videos illustrating communication.
– Gather evidence on communication assistants: recruitment, training and continued encouragement.
– Search for leaders for whole Bridges group and in regional areas.
– Bursaries: As Bridges gets established, grants could be offered to a series of communication teams (a communicator plus assistant/s), to enable travel to a centre of expertise (such as Syracuse) or a conference.
Andrew’s words about what matters most, his unexpected death, and his influence on the Bridges communication group have moved us to plan a legacy project that focuses on supporting self-expression and decision-making especially in adults beyond school age. We would encourage people to choose the modes of communication that suit them best and we would not limit help to people with a diagnosis of ASD or those who live in specific geographical areas.
Our purpose and project have some distinctive aspects– including its legacy aspect, and experience of an existing charity (Guelph Services for the Autistic) and focused group, (Bridges-Over-Barriers), as well as our links with allies in other communities and disciplines.
Gerald & Elizabeth Bloomfield