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Advocating for dignity and inspiring caring citizens
July 26, 2004
By Cam TaitVANCOUVER, B.C. // It could be routine by starting this piece describing Jack Styan, listing his credentials and accomplishments. Jack is the Director of External Relations for the Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), a charity started by and for families for people with a disability. He remembers an incident which is a great way to start things off.
"Our board chair tells the story about his son, when he was entering Grade 7," Jack writes in an e-mail. "There were two Grade 7 teachers at the school, one who was new to the school and one who had been there many years. They needed to divide the students into two classes and so they decided to pick students as if they were captains of a team. The teacher who had been at the school many years got to select first. He selected the board member's son, who had a number of physical and medical conditions that made teaching him more complex.
"When asked why he did so, when there were obviously many other students who would have been easier pupils, he said: 'Over the years I've watched your son in the playground. I've noticed that when other children are around him, they are kinder and gentler. I would like to teach in a kinder, gentler class and I think that he will help to build that environment.'"
And there's the key right there for Jack when he talks about the future of PLAN. "We see a future where the contributions of persons with disabilities are recognized, where persons with disabilities are full citizens, where our society is kinder and gentler and where no person is isolated or lonely," he says.
It's been two decades now since Jack got involved with people with disabilities. Over that period he has received many things - love, caring, acceptance, hospitality, honesty and ... fun. Still, Jack thinks the greatest challenge facing persons with disabilities and their families is that of beliefs, attitudes and perceptions. "And, most important," he says, "is the failure to see the contributions that persons with disabilities (and their families) make."
Today, Jack is trying to develop new ways for families to ensure the future of their relatives with disabilities, the disability savings plan, for example. Jack is asking families to sign an on-line petition for the idea.
People make PLAN run. Not volunteers. Caring citizens.
Jack explains. "Our organization was founded to assist families answer the question: "What will happen to our son/daughter with a disability when we die?" We learned very quickly that people with disabilities were able to live a good life and have a secure future only if there were unpaid people in their lives (family and friends). Parents play a huge role in the lives of their sons and daughters with disabilities. After the parents have died, siblings sometime can't shoulder that entire responsibility and sometimes there are no siblings. "People need friends! But for many persons with disabilities, the greatest disability is that of isolation and loneliness. They don't have any friends.
"That's where we come in. We build a network of friends around the person with a disability. We use the term 'caring citizens' to describe the network members. We do this for two reasons. First, none of us would like to think of their friends as volunteers. Why? Because it suggests a one way relationship: that is, one in which the volunteer contributes and in which the other person receives. We think relationships must be reciprocal to be genuine and sustaining. Network members tell us that the relationships are reciprocal and each one is able to describe what they receive from the relationship. Furthermore, persons with disabilities are often isolated because their contributions are not recognized. We want to overcome that barrier.
"Second, we think that citizenship is based on contributions. From our experience, people gain the status of citizenship not through demanding their rights but by making and being recognized for contributions. In fact, we think that we have a stronger society because people contribute: that is they meet their social obligations by caring for their fellow citizens. This is one of the roles our network members play: thus the term 'caring citizens'."
Jack says learning from the group's past successes is paramount if PLAN is to move forward. And having a personal connection.
"Because I am personally connected to the people that I work with, the work carries a greater meaning, a greater importance for me," says Jack. "Like others I want to make a meaningful contribution during my lifetime. I have many friends with disabilities. I hope that I do what friends do...share my life. Sometimes I give and sometimes I receive."
For more information visit www.plan.ca
Do you know someone who deserves to be in the Charity Village Spotlight? Send us their name, telephone number and details about their community involvement to cam@charityvillage.com.
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