WIAIH celebrates 50 years

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

If you are a West Islander, the letters WIAIH may look familiar to you, but you might not know too much about the West Island Association for the Intellectually Handicapped. But if you are a family member of friend of someone who has an intellectual disability, chances are you know them very well.

“When you have someone in your family with an intellectual disability, it’s front and centre,” said WIAIH’s director Natalie Chapman.

Since being established by concerned parents in 1958, WIAIH has been providing services for people with intellectual disabilities, as well as giving support to the families and sensitizing the communitiy. This year, the organization is celebrating its golden anniversary. According to Chapman, while WIAIH has had its fair share of challenges over the past 50 years, the non-profit organization has stood strong and will continue on.

“We may not have a balanced budget, but we still do it,” Chapman said, adding volunteers and fundraising campaigns keep WIAIH’s motors running. On top of support services, WIAIH also runs the Pat Roberts Centre, a preschool for children up to five years old with special needs in Ste. Genevieve, the Valois Residence in Pointe Claire, and recreation activities and integration.

While WIAIH used to be subsidized by the provincial government, they became completely independent in 2003, which led to a $160,000 cut from its annual budget. While it may have made times tougher, the move also had a positive side.

“We bought our independence,” Chapman said, adding being autonomous allowed them to purchase their own building and allowed them to follow their own rules. For examples, kids enrolled at the Pat Roberts Centre do not need a formal diagnosis. According to the centre’s coordinator Denise Currie, this allows for earlier intervention, because parents of special needs children do not need to wait for a diagnosis before their child can put into a provincially subsidized centre.

“We see miracles happen everyday here, because of early intervention,” Currie said, adding about 70 per cent of the Pat Roberts Centre’s children have autism.

Former Lac St. Louis MP and past WIAIH president, Clifford Lincoln, is the organization’s 50th anniversary spokesperson. His 41-year-old son has Down syndrome, and Lincoln said WIAIH completely turned things around for him and his wife once the organization came into his family’s life.

“Until we found the association, it was really difficult for us,” he said. “Once we did, it was like a cloud was lifted. The self-help and support among the parents was just fantastic. I can’t say enough about WIAIH. It was like a new life started for us.”

Chapman also stressed the support and togetherness WIAIH provides families of intellectually disabled children and adults.

“It’s really all about the families,” she said, adding the West Island has the highest percentage of people with intellectual disabilities than any other region of Quebec. She also pointed out that the events organized by WIAIH, like the upcoming potluck brunch, give parents the opportunity to attend social events with others going through similar situations. “One of the parents said to me, this is the one place I can come to, and I don’t have to be preoccupied.”

While WIAIH has over 600 volunteers every year to run its programs and fundraising campaigns, Chapman said less and less people are giving their time to help out.

“The volunteer pool is diminishing,” she said, adding that volunteering with an organization like WIAIH can be extremely personally rewarding. “It could be then end of the day, and my hair is messy and my makeup isn’t done, but I’ll get, oh Natalie, you look so beautiful today. It’s my privilege to work with people who are intellectually handicapped. If the world could only recognized the gifts these people give.”

WIAIH’s 50th anniversary Speakers’ Series gets underway tonight at the Days Inn Montreal Airport, 4545 Cote Vertu Blvd. in Dorval, at 7 p.m. Dr. Jean-François Chicoine of Ste. Justine Hospital will present child development, nutrition, and his book Le bébé et l’eau du bain in French with simultaneous English translation. The cost is $5 for WIAIH members and $15 for non-members.

For more information on WIAIH, their services, and their 50th anniversary events, call 514-694-5839 or visit www.wiaih.qc.ca.