Community Living Wallaceburg

With the direction set by the Association's Planning Principles, and the adoption of OACL's Vision and Belief Statements, the organization was poised to make community living become not only a reality for more persons with a disability, but also for the community at large.

Riding a wave generated by the Ministry's Multi Year Plan (1987), the association responded by assisting several people to take up new lives and return to their original or chosen community of Wallaceburg. In fact by 1992, 11 persons who formerly received only institutional-based services were now living in Wallaceburg. Acting too on its commitment to listen, three people were helped to move from the group home to establish their own residences. In fact, the arrangements were managed without the demand for additional allocations from the province. Supports were rearranged and risks were taken. This particular activity too caused the Association to look carefully at the viability of continuing to run the group home. Coupled with the need to respond more sensitively to a person's true choices, resources were dedicated to allow the conversion of the group home into three, self-contained apartment units. These were seen to be good moves, moves that have aided in the maturing of the organization and that have allowed tremendous growth since then.

During the early 90's, the government of the day provided tremendous optimism that "inclusion" would become the norm in our neighborhood schools. It seemed that perhaps some 40 years after Ila Carrol's dream, all children might have the opportunity to be educated together, regardless of label. To assist, the Wallaceburg Association became an outspoken advocate for such moves. The Association hosted several workshops on the topic and could regularly be heard promoting the advantages of full integration. The aim of a very dedicated group of volunteers was to raise public awareness and to win support from a broad range of constituencies. Despite the group's best efforts, the political will of the Ontario government and pockets of local resistance dictate that the goal of school integration has not yet been achieved.

Persons attending the Association's day programs were gaining a better sense of themselves and, coupled with the Association's desire to listen and not direct, new roads were charted. The Wedding Belle Boutique, while financially stable, was no longer deemed viable as a "training to work" site and fewer persons were expressing interest in attending. The Directors wrestled with this reality and came to the decision to close the store. The resources were realigned to enable more persons to receive training and support at a wider range of work sites in the community. Several persons moved on to gainful employment in the community, while others were assisted to establish small businesses of their own.

The ARC Industries was renamed to suit the revised focus; it became known as Community Skills Development (CSD). Much more emphasis was placed on the development of practical life and community skills, and people were supported to participate more fully in regular community activities including adult education and recreational programs. Others tried their hand at volunteering.

Recognizing a need for an expanded accessible transit service, the Association joined forces with several groups to explore the possibilities. Till then, the Association was the loan provider of service to its own clients. The Town of Wallaceburg, a seniors delegation and the Association did not take long to creatively find a way to develop a handi-transervice that became available to the whole community. Where the Association service was limited to about 15 people, in a short time, the community transit service was available to over 200.

All was not calm, however. A shift in the provincial government in early 1990 quickly sidetracked much of the optimism created with the Multi Year Plan. The NDP government determined that too few resources were available to sustain the province's social services network and signaled that constraints and cutbacks were going to be necessary. The developmental services sector would not be spared.

Always ready for the challenge, some 80 plus persons from the Wallaceburg Association joined nearly 4000 others from around the province to protest the government's actions. While a temporary freeze was won, the actions of the government in November 1992 would come to be duplicated by successive governments that followed.

Not deterred, responding to changing and increased demands was necessary. The Association was able to convince government authorities that a concerted effort would be required to recruit, train and supervise volunteers within the local Community Living movement. Some new funds were acquired to hire a volunteer co-ordinator and, at the same time, to respond to a new need identified by families from throughout Kent County: In-Home Respite. Emphasis to have families become reconnected to the Association had become a very critical and deliberate strategy. During the 70's and 80's, Association life had become quite professionalized. Families were driven away and often left to feel they were not needed, not appreciated.

In just seven years, from 1987 through to 1994, the Association had grown from supporting some 65 people to over 200 individuals and their families. Program budgets through that same period went from approximately $500,000 per year to just short of $2,000,000 by the close of 1994. A tremendous effort was made by staff, volunteers, individuals and families. The transition was only made because of the tremendous cooperation within the organization and, perhaps as more importantly, from the community at large.

With the advent of a new division within the Association, Individual and Family Support, staff efforts were coordinated around a very focussed, individual, person-centered planning process. The model, designed to assist individuals to declare their preferences, choices, wishes was dubbed "personal support planning." Families, friends and others were encouraged to come back, become reinvolved and to participate in supporting their sons and daughters in their pursuit of a fuller, more involved life in community. In addition, older, First Families (those who originated the Association) were assisted to put plans in place to ensure secure and safe futures for their children.

And while the early attempts to establish a self advocacy movement in the 70's were not successful, new energies were coming forward from individuals themselves to essentially take back their lives, take back their services and resources. These efforts were welcomed and, in fact, nurtured. In 1993, a self advocate training session, originated in Wallaceburg, became known provincially as Keeping your dreams alive. This high energy training workshop was set up for persons with a disability, in order to give them a new confidence, a new set of skills that would enable them to determine more confidently, a future chosen and directed by themselves. The workshop has since been shared with others around the province and many Associations are now encouraging similar events in their communities. The efforts of the originators, combined with other self advocacy training initiatives, were captured in a stellar training video, entitled The Road You Take is Yours.

In many ways by the mid 90's, we had come full circle. We had arrived back at a point where the grassroots of the movement had begun some 40 years before. Community was engaged, families were reinvolved, and new ways of supporting persons were being sought, often without new resources. Things were getting done.