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TheRecord.com - CanadaWorld - Local: A different kind of holiday magic
With every Christmas season comes a sensory circus of brilliant colours, happy music, the smells of gingerbread and pine and the excited voices of children eager to curl up on Santa's lap.
But in a Waterloo group home, the spirit of the season is one of darkness and silence as three young men with limited hearing and sight try to comprehend what is happening around them.
"We speak with our hands . . . the finger method," said Josie Quinn, a support worker at the home operated by DeafBlind Ontario Services. "It makes it very challenging."
Similar to sign language, communicating with someone who is deaf and blind requires holding their hands open while forming words by positioning fingers on the person's palm.
Quinn, whose job title is intervener, is eager to show a visitor how it's done. There are signs for "Let's sit on the couch," "Do you want to go for a walk?" and "Do you want to eat?"
It's a gentle, intimate way to communicate the day-to-day chores, but how do they convey the idea of Christmas?
In the dining room, 22-year-old Dorell Papin is helping his intervener make Christmas cards from craft papers piled on the table.
A Christmas tree sits in a spacious family room, and decorations are scattered around the house. But then again, this place is always filled with bright colours, toys and interesting gadgets.
The three young men who live here are profoundly challenged, both physically and developmentally. Their interveners work to provide a life worth living, one where they are stimulated and given opportunities to experience at least a smidgen of independence. No one sits around to be waited on in this household.
"We have expectations for them to help," Quinn said. "We're always doing something with them. We know they have the ability. Dorell likes making cards. We know he likes to do something, but it has to be on his terms."
In the Waterloo home, Daniel Vecchiato, 22, has been partly blind and deaf since infancy; Ian Hooton, 21, has a congenital brain malformation known as Dandy-Walker syndrome; and Papin was born with cerebral palsy.
The three graduated from Brantford's W. Ross Macdonald School for the hearing and visually impaired in June and came directly to the newly opened Waterloo home. Staff attend the trio 24 hours a day.
It's not an easy job.
Vecchiato is very mobile and enthusiastic, so it's a challenge to keep him busy burning off some of that energy. Both Hooton and Papin are in wheelchairs, though Papin is able to get out of the chair on his own. All three men have their own bedrooms, each fitted out by their parents.
"It looks like a magazine (cover)," Quinn said jokingly of the stylish, cosy rooms. They share a bathroom and the bungalow has been renovated to accommodate wheelchairs, with wide hallways and lowered counters.
Quinn said the provincial government has been steadily closing large, residential facilities that house children and adults with special needs. Within the next few months the last three institutions will be closed, leaving organizations such as DeafBlind Ontario to find alternative accommodations, something more home-like.
Across the province, the non-profit organization supports 35 clients in 12 apartments and houses. Another is scheduled to open in March in Kitchener.
Most of the 35 clients were born with congenital rubella syndrome -- a result of their mother contracting German measles in pregnancy. While they have some hearing and sight, communication is difficult. Christmas offers interveners one more way to reach the people in their care, to help them break through the silent barrier to a world outside their restricted realm.
The young men in Waterloo attend activity and swimming classes at Sunbeam Centre. They also accompany their intervener to the grocery store, placing their hands on specific items to put in the grocery cart.
"We've gone to Wonderland, the butterfly conservatory, camping in a chalet," Quinn said. "They love picnics in Victoria Park. They do get out a lot."
Quinn said much has changed for deaf-blind people over the decades. With an estimated 7,000 deaf-blind Canadians, organizations such as DeafBlind Ontario are coming up with new ways to make life more fulfilling.
"We're always doing something with them, they do learn," she said. "We're always doing lots of crafts and cooking. All of them like lots of activity. They all have their own unique personalities."
There is even a wish-list for the home, which includes installing a fish pond and a swing in the fenced yard, adding exercise equipment to the basement such as a treadmill and creating a sensory garden.
With each new stimulation, the young men learn and grow, despite their disabilities. Christmas is one more opportunity.
An inspirational saying inscribed on a living-room wall says it all: Wish It, Dream It, Do It.
With every Christmas season comes a sensory circus of brilliant colours, happy music, the smells of gingerbread and pine and the excited voices of children eager to curl up on Santa's lap.
But in a Waterloo group home, the spirit of the season is one of darkness and silence as three young men with limited hearing and sight try to comprehend what is happening around them.
"We speak with our hands . . . the finger method," said Josie Quinn, a support worker at the home operated by DeafBlind Ontario Services. "It makes it very challenging."
Similar to sign language, communicating with someone who is deaf and blind requires holding their hands open while forming words by positioning fingers on the person's palm.
Quinn, whose job title is intervener, is eager to show a visitor how it's done. There are signs for "Let's sit on the couch," "Do you want to go for a walk?" and "Do you want to eat?"
It's a gentle, intimate way to communicate the day-to-day chores, but how do they convey the idea of Christmas?
In the dining room, 22-year-old Dorell Papin is helping his intervener make Christmas cards from craft papers piled on the table.
A Christmas tree sits in a spacious family room, and decorations are scattered around the house. But then again, this place is always filled with bright colours, toys and interesting gadgets.
The three young men who live here are profoundly challenged, both physically and developmentally. Their interveners work to provide a life worth living, one where they are stimulated and given opportunities to experience at least a smidgen of independence. No one sits around to be waited on in this household.
"We have expectations for them to help," Quinn said. "We're always doing something with them. We know they have the ability. Dorell likes making cards. We know he likes to do something, but it has to be on his terms."
In the Waterloo home, Daniel Vecchiato, 22, has been partly blind and deaf since infancy; Ian Hooton, 21, has a congenital brain malformation known as Dandy-Walker syndrome; and Papin was born with cerebral palsy.
The three graduated from Brantford's W. Ross Macdonald School for the hearing and visually impaired in June and came directly to the newly opened Waterloo home. Staff attend the trio 24 hours a day.
It's not an easy job.
Vecchiato is very mobile and enthusiastic, so it's a challenge to keep him busy burning off some of that energy. Both Hooton and Papin are in wheelchairs, though Papin is able to get out of the chair on his own. All three men have their own bedrooms, each fitted out by their parents.
"It looks like a magazine (cover)," Quinn said jokingly of the stylish, cosy rooms. They share a bathroom and the bungalow has been renovated to accommodate wheelchairs, with wide hallways and lowered counters.
Quinn said the provincial government has been steadily closing large, residential facilities that house children and adults with special needs. Within the next few months the last three institutions will be closed, leaving organizations such as DeafBlind Ontario to find alternative accommodations, something more home-like.
Across the province, the non-profit organization supports 35 clients in 12 apartments and houses. Another is scheduled to open in March in Kitchener.
Most of the 35 clients were born with congenital rubella syndrome -- a result of their mother contracting German measles in pregnancy. While they have some hearing and sight, communication is difficult. Christmas offers interveners one more way to reach the people in their care, to help them break through the silent barrier to a world outside their restricted realm.
The young men in Waterloo attend activity and swimming classes at Sunbeam Centre. They also accompany their intervener to the grocery store, placing their hands on specific items to put in the grocery cart.
"We've gone to Wonderland, the butterfly conservatory, camping in a chalet," Quinn said. "They love picnics in Victoria Park. They do get out a lot."
Quinn said much has changed for deaf-blind people over the decades. With an estimated 7,000 deaf-blind Canadians, organizations such as DeafBlind Ontario are coming up with new ways to make life more fulfilling.
"We're always doing something with them, they do learn," she said. "We're always doing lots of crafts and cooking. All of them like lots of activity. They all have their own unique personalities."
There is even a wish-list for the home, which includes installing a fish pond and a swing in the fenced yard, adding exercise equipment to the basement such as a treadmill and creating a sensory garden.
With each new stimulation, the young men learn and grow, despite their disabilities. Christmas is one more opportunity.
An inspirational saying inscribed on a living-room wall says it all: Wish It, Dream It, Do It.