The nine-member Ukraine delegation will arrive April 9 and
stay until April 23 and visit Oakland County schools to learn about
“mainstreaming” or having children with disabilities attend neighborhood
schools. The Ukrainians also will visit MORC’s office in Clinton Township on
April 15.
“We plan to take members of the group to see one or two
homes where people with disabilities live with around-the-clock caregivers,”
said Jerry Provencal, the executive director of MORC, which also has offices in
Auburn Hills besides the main campus in Clinton Township.“These visitors will get a real feel to what is possible when they see people with disabilities living in regular homes and neighborhoods,” he said.
Since MORC was founded in the early 1970s, it helped close all 12 state institutions and transition some 13,000 people with disabilities and mental illness to their own homes or apartments with 24/7 care. Finding homes and jobs in the community for those with disabilities continues to this day.
International Visitors Council of Detroit, a nonprofit
organization that works with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. embassies
aboard, will act as a liaison for the Ukrainians and their Detroit-area
counterparts in the fields of disability advocacy, said Marian Reich, Executive
Director of IVC Detroit.
The Ukrainians will learn about modern rehabilitation
methods and technologies developed for children with disabilities, best
practices and progressive approaches to integrate them in communities, provide
equal access to education and jobs, as well as raise awareness of their
challenges, needs and expectations, Reich said Monday.
“We are hoping to improve the lives of those with disabilities
and their families in Ukraine by letting these experts see what we do in
organizations such as MORC,” Reich said.
The Ukrainians also will visit schools in Oakland County to
show them the “best practices in inclusion education,” she said. “We also are
showing them some of the latest technologies that help people with disabilities
better adapt to their challenges.”It is believed the results of the visit to Oakland schools and MORC will “contribute to improving quality of life of Ukrainian children with disabilities through increased coordination, advanced effectiveness, developing leadership, and enhanced information management of the Ukrainian rehabilitation system,” Reich said.
Jerry Wolffe is the
writer-in-residence and advocate-at-large at the Macomb-Oakland Regional
Center. He can be reached at 586 263-8950.
