Joseph & Meredith

Written by Ashley Wells

This month we feature siblings, Joseph and Meredith. Joseph is 8, Meredith is 4, and both are on the Autism spectrum. They live with their two other siblings, Helen and Laura, their mother, Trinity, Trinity’s fiancé Marvin, and his sons, Zack and Camerohn. Trinity and her kids moved to Oregon about a year ago from Missouri and live in the rural community of Yoncalla.

Joseph has an incredible memory. He remembers every commercial for Febreze and can act every one of them out. He remembers passwords and places they’ve been down to every tiny detail. He loves Febreze and even buys every type of Febreze product with his own money. Joseph is mostly nonverbal, but he can speak in short sentences when he feels comfortable enough to do so. Joseph loves to figure things out! He loves taking things apart to learn about them, especially electronics, but he doesn’t, however, particularly enjoy putting things back together. One of the main challenges for Joseph and his family is living in a rural community with no services offered in home.

Meredith has a sweet nature and personality. She LOVES rainbows and unicorns. She is usually happy and makes a real effort to work through her emotions when she is upset. She can be very sensitive, especially with being picked on by her older siblings. One of the main challenges for Meredith, aside from the lack of in-home services and support, is that she doesn’t qualify for an educational eligibility of Autism, even with a medical diagnosis. Trinity has found there to be a struggle with eligibility and the differences between how Autism presents in girls and boys.

Trinity hopes all of her children, and future step children, have happy lives and learn how to find joy in all aspects of life - good times and bad. “There’s hope, joy, and life even on a bad day.”