04 Feb Quest Village offers independent life for adults with developmental disabilities
by Kate Santich Reporter
Orlando Sentinel
Jill Bonn nervously helped her only child box up her belongings late last week as the young woman prepared to move from the family’s Longwood home into her own one-bedroom apartment in Orlando.
“I’ve been having anxiety since before Christmas,” Bonn said. “And now that we’re packing, it’s like, ‘Oh, God — this is happening.’ I’ll call her, but she probably won’t answer me. She might answer a text if I’m lucky.”
Though Bonn’s daughter, Erica, is 27, such a leap wasn’t always a certainty. Erica has Asperger syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.
Her new home is Quest Village — 48 one-bedroom, one-bath cottage-style apartments in east Orange County strictly for adults with developmental disabilities capable of living on their own. The affordable housing project is the first of its kind in metro Orlando, and there are only four similar developments throughout the state — all opened within the past two years.