18
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 1-7, 2022
A milestone anniversary
Life’s WORC celebrates 50 years of helping people with autism
Victoria Schneps is a dynamo
of devotion and a
catalyst for change for the
needs of individuals with autism,
developmental disabilities
and special needs. For over
a half century, Schneps has
made it her life’s work to support
Life’s WORC, an organization
that she founded 50 years
ago — and the tens of thousands
of lives that they have positively
impacted, cared for with dignity,
and improved their quality
of life.
For Schneps, her passion began
with personal experience.
Her daughter, Lara, suffered
brain damage and seizures in
her infancy. As a devoted parent,
she first sought a cure
for her daughter’s injuries, a
search that later evolved into
one for quality care. She located
the Willowbrook State School
on Staten Island, which was
able to accept Lara in their Infant
Rehabilitation Center.
It was Willowbrook that
changed Schneps’ life, and it
was Schneps who then changed
the lives of countless individuals
with special needs.
Schneps, at the time a public
school teacher in New York
City, started Life’s WORC, an
acronym for Women’s Organization
for Retarded Children, as
an advocacy, fundraising and
volunteer organization. With
the organization’s foundational
meeting hosted in Schneps’
living room, Life’s WORC —
founded primarily with neighbors
and friends with healthy
children who wanted to help —
sought to aid the facility.
“They all felt compelled to
volunteer because they were
blessed with healthy children,
many saying, ‘There but for
the grace of God, go I,’” says
Schneps.
However, shortly thereafter,
New York State instituted
significant budget cuts to the
programs for this vulnerable
population. With new limitations
of resources came drastic
negative impacts to the quality
of care. Seeing firsthand the deplorable
conditions at Willowbrook,
Schneps and the women
of Life’s WORC turned from volunteers
into picketers and protestors,
to bring change.
“We started a women’s organization
to help volunteer and
raise money for Willowbrook,”
Schneps recalls. “About a year
after we started our efforts,
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller slashed
the budget. With these slashes
came drastic changes in the
quality of care. These people at
Willowbrook were helpless, like
my daughter. They were living
in conditions that were unsuitable
for anyone — especially
those, like my daughter, who
required around-the-clock care
to be fed, to be diapered and
bathed.”
The facility was forcing children
and others into tragic
conditions that were both unsanitary
and inhumane. At the
Top, left to right: Elizabeth, Lara and Victoria Schneps. Bottom, from left: Geraldo
Rivera, Victoria Schneps. File photos
same time, a young journalist
was made aware of the problems
arising at Willowbrook,
thanks to Schneps. That reporter
was Geraldo Rivera, who
set his sights on telling the stories
of the families and individuals
at the facility — an exposé
that would shock the world.
“I connected with Geraldo
Rivera and he was snuck into
the facility by a doctor who
worked there,” Schneps says.
“People were actually dying
and Geraldo recognized the
sad and tragic conditions that
myself and many like me were
going through, as our family
members were helpless. Geraldo’s
recognition of the importance
of this story is why he is
forever linked with our movement,
our advocacy, and is a
real champion for the needs of
this community.”
Meanwhile, Schneps’ husband,
an attorney, encouraged
the families of Willowbrook
to file a class action lawsuit
against the facility, in concert
with the American Civil Liberties
Union. This legal effort
was successful, bringing longawaited
justice to those involved.
“There was the hostility that
we faced, but thankfully, the
parents association of Willowbrook
won the lawsuit,” says
Schneps.
The shutdown brought
awareness and sunlight to a
system in desperate need. And,
with the innovation of trained
care professionals and the leadership
of Schneps on the issue,
Life’s WORC launched the
state’s first-ever group home for
children with special needs in
Little Neck, Queens — with half
of the residents coming from
Willowbrook and others from
the Queens community. This
facility would soon become a
model used across the state for
humane and adequate care for
this vulnerable population.
“Following the lawsuit, it
“Life’s Worc has become my life’s work, literally.”