2022 EN

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GREAT THINGS

YOU MAKE POSSIBLE

GOOD

Empower hundreds of children with disabilities through access to adapted sports

NEWS

Provide employment training to teens and adults who are blind or deaf

Habilitas Foundation Impact Report

Provide specialized wheelchairs to babies and children with disabilities

FALL 2022

Teach American Sign Language to people who are deaf, helping to break their isolation Transcribe textbooks, exams and learning materials into Braille for students who are blind Loan therapeutic toys to families of babies with multiple impairments to promote development at home Help people with cochlear implants train their brains to understand and process sound Offer training in adapted computer software to people who are blind

INSIDE

Help preschoolers with communication disorders gain essential language skills Offer a life-changing summer camp experience to children with physical impairments

Your generous support at work!

habilitas.ca

WHERE YOUR SUPPORT GOES As you’ll read in these pages, your compassionate and generous support is changing the lives of so many.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Boutique Still Changing Lives

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Every Child Has a Right to Play

4

Robert Rouleau’s Biggest Race

6

Denise Has Lots To Say!

7

Fresh Memories Served at Camp Massawippi New Pediatric Low Vision Clinic

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7010 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal QC H4B 1R3 (514) 488-0043 info@habilitas.ca habilitas.ca

CHANGING LIVES

You empower people struggling with vision loss or blindness.

You make life more inclusive for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. You help those with mobility challenges to move.

You give children a voice so they can play with friends, succeed at school, and share with their families. You open up the world to people living with physical disabilities, one opportunity at a time.

60%

MAB-Mackay

Thank you for your truly valued support and for touching the lives of so many.

24%

Inclusive Playground at Mackay Centre School

11%

1.5%

ConstanceLethbridge

CONTACT US

BOUTIQUE FOUNDED BY BLIND VISIONARY STILL

3.5%

Camp Massawippi

Action Centre

WE ARE HABILITAS With a legacy dating back to 1869, the former MAB-Mackay, Constance-Lethbridge, Camp Massawippi and Action Centre foundations are now stronger together as Habilitas.

Our dream is to build a society where no one is left behind.

Loss of sight can be devastating. The simplest tasks — making coffee, calling family, even navigating your own home — are fraught with struggle, risk and frustration.

But thanks to Irene Lambert — and you — that world is more navigable.

Irene is the remarkable founder of the Technical Aids Boutique for the Visually Impaired, operating at the MABMackay Rehabilitation Centre since 1998. The Boutique stocks more than 300 specialty items that improve lives for the visually impaired — from adapted kitchen items and Braille or talking watches to magnifiers, games, specialized sunglasses, lamps and phones.

After a lifetime of advocacy and leadership (she is now 92!), Irene knows full well the challenges blind and visually impaired people face. And how important their independence is in their day-to-day.

Much more than a boutique Since its founding, the Boutique has grown into a gateway for those needing services and support. Folks typically drop by for one item, discover and test out other devices that help them maintain their autonomy and safety. They also have

the chance to learn about the programs available to them at the MAB-Mackay.

To ensure the devices are affordable to everyone, they are not sold at a profit. As such, the Boutique relies on donor support to operate. Last year, more than 1,300 items were sold, with traffic expected to surge as baby boomers continue to age.

A model for philanthropy Irene Lambert received the Barrier Free Canada’s 2021 Distinguished Advocacy Award — but that’s just a footnote to a stellar career. She is a model for giving and community service. Or, as she says, “you’re always concerned with leaving the world a little better.”

Together with other pioneers, she’s changed government and corporate policy affecting the visually impaired, and served as a board member at MAB-Mackay, as well as many other organizations. In the process, Irene has changed countless lives.

Thanks to Irene, and you, the Technical Aids Boutique for the Visually Impaired carries on her astounding legacy.

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EVERY CHILD HAS A RIGHT TO PLAY. NOW THEY CAN, AT THEIR OWN INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND. We believe every child has a right to play. Because play enables enormous physical, cognitive and emotional leaps — especially for children with disabilities. Play gives them independence, confidence and — just like other kids — a chance to simply blow off steam.

For more than 60 years, the Mackay Centre and Philip E. Layton schools have provided a safe and caring academic environment for children and adolescents with disabilities. Our schools’ seamless marriage of education and physical rehabilitation, with a goal of unlocking the potential of each child, is unique in North America.

Three years ago, these specialized shcools moved into a brand-new building, fully-equiped with adapted classrooms, nursing stations, state-of-the-art therapy rooms, a wheelchair clinic, a multi-sensory room, and an accessible pool.

The missing piece was a playground of their own.

So the centre put a team of researchers on the job, to study accessible playgrounds around the world. Each component in the final design was carefully selected to maximize accessibility and participation, and provide a place that offers an attractive mix of colours, textures, natural elements, and slopes.

Construction of the $3 million project began this summer, with a goal of opening the playground next spring. Pierre Boivin and his daughter Catherine (a former student of Mackay Centre School) joined as co-chairs of a capital campaign led by Habilitas Foundation.

Thanks to donors’ generosity, the exceptional children in our schools will able to fully participate at recess and during lunch. No barriers, no holding back.

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FALL 2022 IMPACT REPORT

Construction progress as of September

What makes our playground inclusive?

Accessible swings and merry-go-round for kids with wheelchairs, walkers or leg braces Static-free slides that don’t interfere with auditory devices Drums, chimes and a sensory wall that stimulate senses Tactile paving, vibrant colours and contrasts for children with visual challenges Shade for those with light sensitivity, and to regulate temperature Double slides for children with poor trunk control, so they can slide with a friend or attendant

Play is transformative, empowering and universal.

Every child should have a right to play.

Now, thanks to you, our children can.

Mackay Centre School has given River so many opportunities. Being able to play outside would be great. He’s super social, and he wants to be involved with everything that’s going on. The inclusive playground will offer him the chance to play like the other kids play, and to be involved socially outside at recess time with all the other kids in ways that he really can’t right now.

- ANNA, MOTHER OF RIVER LONG-TIME STUDENT OF MACKAY CENTRE SCHOOL

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LISTEN UP, WORLD! DENISE HAS

LOTS

ROBERT ROULEAU’S BIGGEST RACE OF ALL

TO SAY.

Outgoing and inquisitive. Creative and fun-loving.

For someone born within the ‘limits’ of cerebral palsy, Denise is positively irrepressible. So is her ambition as a writer.

That’s where you come in. Your support has given Denise a chance to realize her ambition. At the Action Centre in Lasalle, she’s able to hone her craft and feed her desire for fun, friendship and understanding.

Ignored for too long The Action Centre serves people with multiple disabilities.

Many can’t get around on their own, or may have hearing or visual impairments. They may not be able speak, like Denise, or feed and dress themselves. But their biggest challenge?

Society’s indifference.

Your support tells them they do matter. They have a voice.

And their basic human need for fun, friends and personal expression is heard and supported.

Denise, writer Of course, none of that has ever slowed down Denise. Denise got her first wheelchair when she was a little girl and learned to communicate using specialized devices.

You could say Robert Rouleau was driven; a towering innovator who pioneered cell-phone technologies, a business leader who served on boards and executive councils, and perhaps most notably a passionate car racing enthusiast. Robert was a fierce competitor on and off the track. He didn’t seem to know the meaning of quit — even after suffering a stroke.

Thanks to his wife, Maryse, who administered CPR while waiting the for paramedics to arrive, he survived. And so began Robert’s biggest challenge of all regaining control of body, and relearning how to be in the world, and in spaces once so familiar.

But Robert, like so many others, was not alone. Supported and cared for by the Constance-Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre’s Early Supported Discharge program, Robert made huge strides.

Recovery is faster at home First launched in 2017, the Early Supported Discharge program provides occupational therapy, physiotherapy and other rehab services in the home. Being able to recover in familiar surroundings, closer to family and friends, is a key factor in a patient’s capacity to progress, and has untold positive impacts on morale.

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FALL 2022 IMPACT REPORT

For Robert, this at-home approach made all the difference.

His early wins included getting up from bed unassisted, making coffee, using his computer, and showering alone.

And, the most emotional win of all: choosing a Beatles song for a first dance with Maryse.

These modest but critical gains motivated Robert to keep fighting, with the ultimate goal of once again getting behind the wheel of his beloved race car.

Sadly, Robert succumbed to cancer just one week before his first assisted driving course. But the wins he made, including being able to once again dance with his wife, were impressive and meaningful, and thanks in large part to the support he received from his Constance-Lethbridge team.

Her social gifts helped her flourish at LaSalle Protestant High and at Dawson College, where her dreams of being a writer crystalized. “Writing can be boring and isolating,” Denise admits. “I needed a social outlet.”

That’s when Denise discovered the Action Centre and its many workshops. “I feel more capable and motivated going to the Centre,” she says. “It has mentally energetic classes like French, art and a writing class which works on the Centre newsletter.”

As its Members like to say, the Action Centre is one big and supportive family. Gifts to the Habilitas Foundation make this possible for Denise and so many others like her.

Honouring Robert’s final win Maryse and her family will never forget the hope and understanding that the incredible team at ConstanceLethbridge gave them. More importantly, they are thankful for the strength, dignity and quality of life they helped offer Robert. With gifts made in Robert’s memory, the centre is able to increase the number of families and individuals assisted in their own journeys toward rehabilitation – a winning legacy indeed.

I have made a lot of friends. We can have fun together. Or talk seriously if anything is bothering us. Everyone tries to understand and listen.

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After more than two years of consultation, planning, fundraising and construction, Camp Massawippi’s new Dining Hall was opened this summer, to serve up a feast of smiles, laughter and memories to last a lifetime.

Since 1951, Camp Massawippi has offered children and young adults living with physical disabilities a fullyadapted camp experience, a rare opportunity to enjoy the exhilarating experience of freedom and joy that only summer camp can offer.

After 70 years, the camp’s beloved dining hall needed to be restored. But we were careful to retain most of its legacy items, to ensure continuity and tradition, while launching a new era at Camp Massawippi — Quebec’s only bilingual camp for special-needs children and young adults.

Your investment to transform lives is already delivering big returns The Dining Hall is the heart and soul of Camp Massawippi, where the camp bond is strongest. It’s where campers and staff members assemble daily not just for meals, but to also feed their hunger for social interaction. To recount their

NOW SERVING UP FRESH MEMORIES, AT CAMP MASSAWIPPI’S NEW DINING HALL 8

FALL 2022 IMPACT REPORT

adventures on water and land. To chill. To kid one another and share stories and dreams.

Everything the new Dining Hall did before, it can do even better now. Campers who can’t feed themselves; who need specialized meals; who require nurses and attendants, are better served with greater safety, comfort, efficiency and dignity.

Take it from the campers themselves: 18-year old Tori, a regular at camp for ten years, loved dancing in the rain at night on the brand-new deck.

11-year veteran camper Sam enjoys the dining hall because it’s where everyone gets together as a family.

And Alex, who is now 21 and first came to camp when she was seven, loves it for the enhanced accessibility.

Donor support is essential to the realization of projects like this, as well as to ensuring that camper fees remain stable year after year, to maintaining camp’s exciting programs, and to offering the one-to-one ratio of staff to campers.

Thank you!

For more information on the magic created at this unique camp, visit

campmassawippi.ca habilitas.ca

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WELCOME TO OUR NEW PEDIATRIC LOW VISION CLINIC

Four year-old Chiara in the new “dark room.”

When we first found out that our daughter was most likely visually impaired, our world came to a stop.

We worried that she wouldn’t be able to do so many things like her older brother can or other children of her age. The MAB-Mackay has given us the tools and resources to help Alynah shine and demonstrate her full potential. They have showed us and shown Alynah that there is no such thing as can’t when it comes to children who are legally blind. It is truly priceless.

Alynah is excited for her therapies in the new pediatric low vision clinic.

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FALL 2022 IMPACT REPORT

Four year-old Élodie in the new clinic waiting room.

This fall, the MAB-Mackay opened a new, state-of-the-art low vision clinic – designed at every turn with both the therapeutic and emotional best interests of the children and their families at heart. Both Alynah and Rebekah were so excited to visit the new facility for the first time, and are eager to continue therapies in the bright and fully-adapted environment.

The new clinic features an optometric assessment room, in which the child’s functional use of vision is evaluated through interaction, play and observation rather than the technology typically used for adults. It also features a “dark room” which permits visual skills training such as looking and tracking optic fibers and lights. Another innovation is a simulated classroom, to help children learn skills and practice with technology that promotes their success in mainstream academic environments.

Stephanie Desjardins, who began her career as an occupational therapist at the MAB-Mackay 20 years ago and now manages all programs for children at the centre, led the charge for the new clinic from the beginning.

- REBEKAH, ALYNAH’S MOTHER

“We know that 80% of learning comes through vision.

With vision being the primary sense by which we learn,

it’s easy to understand how a visual impairment may significantly interfere with a child’s ability to learn and function in a daycare or school setting,” says Stephanie.

“That’s why it’s so critical to begin therapy as quickly as possible with children who have visual impairments.”

“Our dream with this new clinic was to create a facility that is first of its kind in Quebec. We can now go even farther in giving these children the opportunities to achieve everything they can in life by learning techniques and through the use of tools that truly open the world up for them.”

Pioneering projects like this are made possible through generosity to the Habilitas Foundation.

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10

GREAT THINGS

YOU MAKE POSSIBLE

GOOD

Empower hundreds of children with disabilities through access to adapted sports

NEWS

Provide employment training to teens and adults who are blind or deaf

Habilitas Foundation Impact Report

Provide specialized wheelchairs to babies and children with disabilities

FALL 2022

Teach American Sign Language to people who are deaf, helping to break their isolation Transcribe textbooks, exams and learning materials into Braille for students who are blind Loan therapeutic toys to families of babies with multiple impairments to promote development at home Help people with cochlear implants train their brains to understand and process sound Offer training in adapted computer software to people who are blind

INSIDE

Help preschoolers with communication disorders gain essential language skills Offer a life-changing summer camp experience to children with physical impairments

Your generous support at work!

habilitas.ca