By Amanda Bortman
Norma DelSonno is one of many who has tried to get away over the years. But like many others, she’s back at Berkshire County Arc.
“After a month of training to be a 911 dispatcher, I told my husband I miss BCArc, I miss the guys, I miss my co-workers,” she said, laughing. “I pulled up to the driveway of my old BCArc program, and decided I wanted to return.”
Norma will tell you that she’s been taking care of people since age 9, when she lived in Puerto Rico.
“This is my calling. This is where I’m meant to be. And now, after leaving, I can say it with new certainty. Hands-on helping is what I’m meant to do.”
Norma has worked at BCArc since 2008. She started part-time doing relief work, where she chose her hours and the homes. She transitioned to full-time residential support, in about a year she moved up to assistant manager. Two years later she became site manager.
Norma demonstrates some of the invented sign language a non-verbal individual uses to communicate.
Four individuals with disabilities live at the house she runs with staff 24-7. Two of the individuals are nonverbal and one is deaf. “He is the most communicative non-verbal person you will ever meet. He doesn’t use sign language in a formal way, he has his own signals. At the end of one of his video-conferences with his sister, he signed, ‘cry’. It was heartbreaking.”
“When he wants coffee in the morning, he lets us know, and you can’t misunderstand that,” she said, laughing.
Due to COVID, the day programs have been suspended and travel limited, so now the individuals spend their time in the house. “The staff here are amazing,” she said. “They work with the individuals on their daily goals, exercises, and arts and crafts.” It’s hands-on and what Norma says she’s meant to do.
She also carries out hands-on work outside of BCArc. Norma is currently working towards her degree in graphic design, and at the end of the day, she returns home to her four kids, aged five, six, twelve, and fourteen.
While Norma had hopes to be the voice of guidance one hears when dialing 911, she realizes, by taking care of the four individuals and her four children with her husband, that she has always been the voice that she was meant to be.
