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June 26, 2006

Joyce Thompson is a modern miracle worker.

For 30 years, this soft-spoken, ramrod strong and supremely sensitive 72-year-old woman has worked passionately to transform the lives of people with an unfathomable dual disability -- deafness and blindness.

As their advocate, she's their eyes, ears and voice. In her latest triumph, she was the heart, soul and conscience of a politically savvy campaign to educate then-minister of community and social services Sandra Pupatello about the desperate need for intervenor services so deafblind people can do what we take for granted -- shop, bank, go to the doctor, or interact with other people.

Her persistence dramatically paid off. On the first of June, which is Deafblindness Awareness Month, another of Thompson's initiatives, the Ontario government announced a landmark $11 million investment for intervenor and interpreter services.

NOT INTERPRETERS

Intervenors, not to be confused with interpreters, are specially trained professionals who help deafblind people communicate with each other and participate in society. Without an intervenor, a deafblind person's world is the span of an arm. They have no quality of life and live in unbearable loneliness, silence and shadows.

Thompson started volunteering in 1976 with CNIB's fledgling Deafblind Services, the first centre of its kind in Canada, when there was no government funding and deafblindness wasn't even a recognized disability.

"These were pioneer days. The entire population was hidden, with no support. We had to go out and find them in nursing homes and in totally isolated situations. Nobody knew there was anything you could do for them or ways to communicate with them," she said.

"It became a passion for me. I wanted to do something."

With no formal intervenor training available, Thompson taught herself to be an intervenor working with a young man, her first case, who had lived in solitude after leaving the Belleville Home for the Deaf in 1977.

Handling 50 cases at a time, she threw herself into learning as much as she could about the needs of the deafblind.

Since then, she has attended training courses, and participated and presented at dozens of conferences in the U.S. and farther afield.

In 1985, she researched and compiled the first-ever "Assistive Devices Manual for Persons who are Deafblind," after attending a world conference in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia.

Recognizing the crying need for a pool of intervenors to help these people live normal lives, Thompson was instrumental in starting a two-year intervenor diploma program now offered at George Brown College.

After completing a study of their housing needs in 1986, she began to formulate a dream -- an apartment complex where deafblind people could live independently with flexible, readily available intervenor services.

The Rotary Cheshire Homes opened in 1992 after seven years of Thompson's tireless campaigning, advocating, fundraising, wrangling with bureaucrats and working with architects, builders and engineers.

This pretty, neat, low-rise, red brick building in a quiet residential North York neighbourhood is the first and only apartment complex for deafblind people in the world.

With ingenious state-of-the-art technology and security, a tele-braille system in the lobby and vibrating pagers for all residents, smoke and fire alarm systems all work perfectly, Thompson says.

"If someone drops a stitch knitting or if they want to know what colour of socks to wear or if they want to go to the 'Y' or to a party or to church or to the doctor, they have 24-hour intervenor services, though 3 1/2 hours a day is the average need," she says.

SERVICES SCARCE

Most people living elsewhere are lucky to have three or four hours of intervenor services a week, if that.

To provide training, mobility and independent living skills, Thompson then began working toward the 2001 opening of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre, a residential facility a few blocks from Rotary Cheshire.

Former attorney-general and lawyer David S. Young said: "Joyce is a dynamo, one of the most selfless individuals I've ever encountered. She is as committed as she is concerned about ensuring that members of the deafblind community can fulfill their potential."

Last year, she helped six deafblind people launch a $50-million lawsuit against the province because they're so poorly served with intervenor services.

"You can't say no to deafblind people when they ask for services themselves, so I'm hoping one day they will be able to advocate for themselves," Thompson said, "We need deafblind people trained as public speakers to go on the road and spread the word."

George Brown College
Intervenors are the eyes and ears for people who are both deaf and blind.

This program, the first and largest in Canada, was developed in partnership with a number of service providers and deafblind consumer associations.

The Intervenor for Deaf-Blind Persons program at George Brown College provides the knowledge and basic skills to work with children and adults who are deafblind, including individuals who may be medically fragile.

Intervenors make it possible for deafblind people to access information and to interact within their environment.

The program combines theory and practical experience, allowing participants to learn the specialized techniques of intervention including a variety of alternative communication methods. Skills are applied during the three field placements that consist of 28 days per semester in semesters 2, 3 and 4.

Further learning is enhanced by a variety of field excursions and guest speakers currently involved in the field.
Students must meet the requirements of the George Brown College preplacement student health passport before attending a field placement.

Note: All students in this program must have a police reference check completed before their field placement.