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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APRIL 1-7, 2022 BXR
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.
Hosting the organization’s foundational
meeting in the living
room of her home, 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,’” said
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 recalled. “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 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 expose that would shock the
world.
“I connected with Geraldo
Rivera and he was
snuck into the facility by a
doctor who worked there,”
Schneps said. “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, Vicki’s 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 long-awaited justice to
those involved.
“There was the hostility that
we faced, but thankfully, the parents
association of Willowbrook
won the lawsuit,” said Schneps.
The shutdown brought aware-
Victoria Schneps protesting the conditions at Willowbrook State School.
Life’s WORC celebrates 50 years
of helping people with Autism
“Life’s WORC
has become
my life’s work,
literally”
-Victoria Schneps
Victoria Schneps