32
Caribbean Life, Mar. 31-Apr. 6, 2022
Life’s WORC Celebrates 50 Years Victoria Schneps protesting the conditions at Willowbrook State School.
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 aroundthe
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.
“Life’s WORC has become
my life’s work, literally,” said
Victoria Schneps
“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 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
Victoria Schneps.