Bellwood Centre For Community Living Ltd

Jean Lauder made a significant originating contribution to the creation of services in Toronto for adults with cerebral palsy. Jean Lauder was a young person with cerebral palsy in the 1930's when she was at high school at the Wellesley Orthopaedic School. Through discussions with her teacher, she began to think of alternatives to living at home with her parents and came up with the idea of a residential workshop. Into the 1940's, Jean and her family further recognized the imperative of developing a community alternative to her situation of living at home.In 1948, through the efforts of family, friends and mentors, the Cerebral Palsy Adult Association was created. This group, under the leadership of Muriel Heyland and members of the Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity, decided to start work on the workshop and set up the Inter Fraternity Cerebral Palsy Association Workshop, now known as Corbrook Workshop. By 1956, now that the workshop was running, these two groups and the Cerebral Palsy Parents Council formed the Auxiliary of the CP Adult Association to work on developing a residence for adults with CP.