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BCIFV
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> November 8, 2000
For Immediate Release:
November 8, 2000
Contact: (604) 669-7055
Media
Release:
November
20th is National Child Day
Professional
and community groups can honour an overlooked group of Canadian
children by scheduling a screening and workshop of
The
Person Within
"We
had a child and we had to learn to do the best we could with
her."
So
says Myrtle Braun about her daughter Zenith, who was born
with a severe developmental disability, in a video called
The Person Within. But it's a statement one would expect
any parent to make about their child.
In fact,
it's a statement one would expect our society to make about
all our children. Yet the reality is that, as a society, we
do better with some of our children than others.
Some
of the children with whom we do less well are subjects of
The Person Within, an award-winning 30-minute video
and deeply moving two-day workshop about emotional abuse of
children with disabilities.
"Sometimes,
when I talk about this, I can almost hear people thinking,
'What next?'" says Sally Rogow, program director of The
Person Within. "Many people think that if a child
isn't being beaten or molested, it's not abuse.
"Yet
research shows that psychological maltreatment of children
- which includes things like ignoring, withholding affection,
and depriving them of adequate social and intellectual stimuli
- is far more damaging over the long term than any other kind
of abuse."
Rogow
is a retired UBC professor of special education who has worked
with children with disabilities, and with other professionals
who work with children with disabilities, for over 30 years.
The Person Within was her brainchild, brought to fruition
last year by the BC Institute Against Family Violence. She
still conducts the two-day workshops across BC herself, but
has a long-term goal of training others to become workshop
leaders.
"Sometimes,
people who work with children with disabilities think that
as long as they give them their medication, do their physiotherapy,
and feed, bathe, and dress them on schedule, they will be
fine," says Rogow. "But they overlook that children
with disabilities are children first and foremost. They have
the same developmental needs as other children, the same need
for affection, the same need to socialize with other children,
the same need to explore their world."
The
consequence of this all-too-frequent oversight is the same
as it would be for children without disabilities, says Rogow.
"A child whose emotional needs are not met is a child
who will have difficulty developing into a contributing adult
member of society.
"That's
wasted potential," she says.
The
Person Within targets professionals - caregivers, physicians,
teachers, social workers, and so on - who work with children
with disabilities regularly or occasionally. It teaches participants
to identify the signs of emotional abuse, understand what
to do if they suspect emotional abuse, and help children who
have been emotionally abused.
For information or to schedule a screening and workshop of
The Person Within, please call (604) 669-7055, reception@bcifv.org
or www.thepersonwithin.org
.
To build this story using local sources, contact the BC Coalition
of People with Disabilities at 1 800 663-1278 and request
information on organizations in your area. Or for a list of
member organizations serving people with developmental (and
in some cases other) disabilities in communities throughout
BC, visit the BC Association for Community Living website
at www.vcn.bc.ca/bcacl.
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