When the Developmentally Disabled Get Married

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Boca Raton with my friend, Toni James.  During our trip, my six degrees of separation from the developmentally disabled concept was further solidified when she mentioned to me a story about her cousin.  This delightful woman named Katherine lives in Connecticut and is developmentally disabled.  Eight or nine years ago, she became romantically affiliated with another developmentally disabled gentleman who attended her day training program.   What do two people do when they fall in love?  They get married, and these two people were no different.  Did they have some adjustments to make to living their lives as a married couple? Sure they did, but don’t we all?  Have there been some stumbling blocks along the way for them? Of course,  and they actually live in a condo owned by her father and have a case worker who checks in on them from time to time.  However any pitfall that may come their way, they are weathering the storm as two happy, special people in love.

It was actually the first time I had heard a personal story about two folks with DD getting married.  To my knowledge I haven’t ever known anyone else with DD to get married, though we have a few couples at ARC Marion who’ve been together a long time. (wink)  It just made me think, why not?  There was nothing stopping two consenting adults from binding together in holy matrimony to live happily ever after, and I think it’s just great.  Furthermore, since this couple is family to my friend, I now have a connection to two more happy people!