University of Virginia Library

Houses Clustered

Mr. Kramp explains that
what they would ultimately
like is three small communities
within the larger Village. A
cluster of three or four houses
could comprise the smaller
community with all the
communities utilizing the
larger facilities of the school
and gymnasium.

"All our daily needs are
provided for us," explains Mr.
Kramp. "But let's say, for
example, that someone in the
community should like to visit
a friend in New York. The
members of the community
would then pool their money
together– that is the $10 per
month everyone earns for
spending money–so that this
person might be able to go."

Mr. Kramp presently lives in
a large new house with his
wife, six children and five
handicapped adults. "We all
live together 24 hours a day,"
says Mr. Kramp, "and are all
part of one family."

"Most of the co-workers are
college graduates," states Mr.
Kramp. Pointing to one man
sporting a heavy red rd and
work clothes, Mr. Kr
declares, "for
fellow rushing out the door to
de-rock the pasture is a novelist
and former professor at Yale.
He lives in a small room above
the weavery, by the way."

Mr. Kramp himself is a
geneticist by profession who
once taught in Iowa, and more
recently worked in
Washington, D.C.

"This is really quite
communal living," contends
Mr. Kramp. "Most of the
co-workers are people I met
while working in Washington
who liked the idea and
followed me here. But unlike
most communes, this is one
with the handicapped.

In a few years," he

explained, "we're hoping we
can just call ourselves Innisfree
and not a community for the
handicapped. We dislike having
to make that distinction. We'd
rather this be a community
devoid of any special
designation as to who is
handicapped and who is not."

The Villagers do not appear
self-conscious of their
handicaps. Rather they seem
supremely confident and very
proud of their newly found
independence.

As Janice, one of the
Villagers put it: "I don't have
to worry about anything here.
I work in the weavery on
Friday afternoons and help
give tours. And, in return, I
have fun."

Innisfree, thus, seems to be
the answer to the
de-personalized life within the
institution and to the severely
sheltered life which the
handicapped person often faces
at home, where parents must
worry what will happen as
their handicapped child grows
older and they are no longer
ab to for .

handicapped person learns to
become quite self-sufficient.
He lives in a normal home in a
normal environment. Here he
lives freely in a community
where he is accepted for what
he is and where his
contribution to the community
has a real meaning and
importance. No longer is the
handicapped person a
hindrance to society. Rather at
Innisfree he is made a part of
society, a part of the
community instead of an alien
to it.

From the structured
community of Innisfree it is
possible that the handicapped
person may one day be able to
make the move back into
society without consciously
experiencing the transition.

"We like to think we have the
kind of living situation here
that they will find in the real
world," says Mr. Kramp.
"Thus, hopefully, the
handicapped person will not
lose the self-respect, dignity
and confidence he gained here
should he move from our
sheltered community back to
the real world".

Innisfree thus serves as a
model not only in the
development of better
treatment for the mentally
handicapped but as a lesson in
tolerance to the entire world.
Only when the rest of mankind
comes to experience the inner
freedom of Innisfree can we
truly speak of an
understanding, of a
brotherhood of man.