FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 1, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 28
Life’s WORC celebrates 50 years
of helping people with autism
BY QNS STAFF
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
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, suff ered
brain damage and seizures in her infancy.
As a devoted parent, she fi rst 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.
“Th ey all felt compelled to volunteer because
they were blessed with healthy children, many
saying, ‘Th ere but for the grace of God, go I,’”
said Schneps.
However, shortly thereaft er, New York State
instituted signifi cant budget cuts to the programs
for this vulnerable population. With new
limitations of resources came drastic negative
impacts to the quality of care. Seeing fi rsthand
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 aft er we started
our eff orts, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller slashed
the budget. With these slashes came drastic
changes in the quality of care. Th ese people at
Willowbrook were helpless, like my daughter.
Th ey 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.”
Th e 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.
Th at 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
fi le a class action lawsuit against the facility,
in concert with the American Civil Liberties
Union. Th is legal eff ort was successful, bringing
long-awaited justice to those involved.
“Th ere was the hostility that we faced, but
thankfully, the parents association of Willowbrook
won the lawsuit,” said Schneps.
Th e 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 fi rst-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.
Th is facility would soon become a model used
across the state for humane and adequate care
for this vulnerable population.
“Following the lawsuit, it paved the way
for new laws on the books to allow for a new
concept, embraced by the care providers of
this vulnerable community, known as group
homes,” Schneps said. “We laid the groundwork
to revolutionize the industry, bringing dignifi
ed care to these individuals, while leaving the
large-scale wards in the past. What this did
Victoria Schneps protesting the conditions at Willowbrook State School.
Victoria Schneps
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
