Living on your own with a mild intellectual disability is not always easy. The WISjH Foundation (Residential Initiative for Special Young People Hilversum) therefore wants to realize nineteen homes for ‘special’ young people who need extra care by mid-2025. Mathijs Smit, board member of the foundation, has a son with an intellectual disability. He tells how he discovered that his son was different from other children.
24-year-old Tiemen Smit seems like an ordinary boy, but it is sometimes more difficult for the young Hilversum to understand things than for other people. He has a non-congenital mild intellectual disability, suffered from a lack of oxygen as a baby.
He is one of the people for whom it is more difficult to live independently. His father Mathijs therefore founded the WISjH foundation together with other parents 10 years ago. The goal of this foundation: to build 19 homes for young people with disabilities who need that little bit of extra help.
Unclear future
“When Tiemen was still young and went to a special school, I sometimes had conversations with parents of children from that class,” says father Mathijs. “The question often arose: What does their future look like? Will the children be able to live on their own later?” With the foundation, the latter will now be possible, even though achieving this did not always go smoothly.
“We managed quite quickly to find a place where the homes could be located,” says Mathijs. “A new district is being built in Hilversum: Nieuw Zuid. Young people will soon be able to go there.” However, construction took much longer due to the corona crisis. “Fortunately things are going well now. My son can move in mid-2025.”
Specific care
Since this week it has been announced that care will be in the hands of Amerpoort, an agency that guides young people with intellectual disabilities. “Of course, the children all need very specific care, because everyone is different,” says Mathijs. “It is nice that Amerpoort can take on this responsibility. This means we are one step closer to realizing this project.”
In the video above we speak to Mathijs Smit about his son and how he discovered that Tiemen was different from other children. We also follow Tiemen, who prepares a lunch together with her friend and future housemate Baukje.