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Awareness Month Norm McLeod Awards | About PDD |
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Norm McLeod Awards
Donna VanBuskirk, 2005 Community Inclusion Dreamweaver Award
The sky's the limit
| It's the evening of the 2005 Norm McLeod Awards. Family members, colleagues, MLAs, government ministers… it seems everyone wants to talk to Donna Van Buskirk. Donna is well known in support services, a field she's worked in for decades, and she has substantial accomplishments to her credit. The consensus is that it's high time she won the Norm McLeod Dreamweaver Award. |
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| The gathering has just viewed a very moving video reviewing Donna's contributions to the community. Donna was introduced to the support services field with the birth of her son Peter. "It took about three years before somebody finally diagnosed him—that he had disabilities. I can remember asking the specialist, 'What can I expect, or what should I do?' His advice was, 'Well, you just don't know with children like this.' So, I thought, 'Okay, the sky's the limit!'" |
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An example of Donna's resourcefulness can be seen in how she taught her son to communicate. Pete's cerebral palsy prevents him from speaking, so Donna taught him a basic form of sign language—Amer-Ind—that accommodates his limited dexterity. An additional advantage is that it's fairly easy for anyone to pick up, so he is able to converse easily with his friends and family. When no gesture existed to convey meaning for a particular word, Donna simply made one up.
Donna was determined Pete would have a full and independent life. Where services didn't exist to help people like her son, she created them. "I didn't put any caps on what could be. It was just as things came up, like the individual with the house."
This individual had rented houses or apartments. He didn't like apartment living. The only houses he could get were substandard as it was all he could afford on social assistance. Frequently, the owners of the houses he rented would sell and he would have to move. He came to Donna's group saying, "I just want a place of my own." Donna says, "I thought, 'well, why not?'"
Donna believes that being in a small town is an advantage for projects like this because the community is not big enough to have separate or specialized services. Everyone knows everyone and people are more accepted. Even so, enabling her client to buy his own home was still a first and set a precedent that helped change how and what services are provided today.
Donna reflects back on when she joined the organization that is now the Crowsnest Community Support Services. "It started in 1970. It started providing programs in '74 and I joined in '76. It was very small then. That was right when the government first started funding services."
At that time, the goals for services weren't as clear as they are today. "I think a lot of it started because they (individuals with disabilities) were finishing school and there was no place for them to go," says Donna.
She has seen her field change dramatically from the early 1970s, when "most people were still being institutionalized," to today when people are being recognized for supporting self-advocates in their quest for independent, quality lives. Donna has been a critical element in this evolution.