Total Communication Environment understands and respects adults with disabilities
From left, Lindsay, Anna Marie, Brenda and Gareth, with musician Jesse Stewart
Total Communication Environment understands and respects adults with disabilities
By Tom Sherwood
In 1979, Christine and Murray Wilson were a young couple living in the Glebe when they founded Total Communication Environment (TCE) to create a home and a future where adults with developmental disabilities could be understood and respected. Their son Jamie was one of the first three residents in the first group home.
Christine died in 2019, but her legacy lives on, and so do Jamie and TCE.
Her legacy was celebrated on November 22 at Centrepoint Theatre when hundreds of people joined in an evening of reflection and celebration, featuring the premiere of the Christine Wilson Legacy Documentary, a film that tells the story of 45 years of vision and courage. The evening honoured Christine and Murray, and their belief in dignity and belonging for all individuals.
A second highlight of the evening was the premiere of No Day Wasted, the video documentary of a collaborative music project with Carleton University’s Jesse Stewart and several TCE residents.
Stewart is another Glebe resident making a positive contribution to our society. His We Are All Musicians program has been featured in magazine and newspaper articles. He uses technology and his own musicality to help people overcome obstacles to musical expression. For example, he worked with a woman in the Bruyere Centre who could control no muscles in her body other than her eye muscles. Using motion detectors and a set of chimes, he allowed her to play music . . . using her eyes.
Earlier this year, Stewart connected a group of his Carleton students with several TCE residents in a song-writing project. Working together, they wrote lyrics and composed music together for an original song, No Day Wasted, which they performed before an audience at the Dominion-Chalmers Centre.
It is striking to me that I first met both Christine Wilson and Jesse Stewart through Glebe St. James United Church, another “good citizen” in our Ottawa neighbourhood.
Since 1979, TCE has grown from a single home to a network of neighbourhood residences and day supports across the city, serving more than 90 individuals and their families. For example, Herb and Wendy Westman live on Glebe Avenue and are the parents of 56-year-old Kristi who lives in a four-person TCE home. Despite Kristi’s cluster of health issues, they can enjoy each other with regular outings in the Glebe, supported by TCE.
TCE’s culture of belonging has been strengthened by strong relationships with families, staff, neighbours and local partners. The organization has always believed that community is not defined by geography alone, but by connection, contribution and shared experience. This principle has guided TCE through major system and culture shifts. Think how many different provincial governments we have had in 45 years. Think about how the vocabulary for discussion of disabilities has changed. Through it all, the Wilsons’ values remained the TCE compass.
The 45-year timeline showcased at the Legacy event reflected a dynamic engagement from the early days of building trust and stability, to opening new homes, to expanding communication supports, to pioneering person-centred planning, to the current era of creative programming, wellness initiatives and cross-community partnerships.
I see the inclusiveness every week in the Adaptive Fitness class that I lead for TCE residents. It is trilingual: French, English and American Sign Language.
The Legacy Night was not only a celebration of the past but also a renewed call to protect a culture built on dignity, belonging, fairness and the belief that everyone has a place in their community.
Caregivers are somehow both essential and undervalued in our society, a fact that was addressed at the Canadian Caregiving Summit held at the Chateau Laurier on November 3 and 4. The Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, which organized the summit, has lobbied federal parties, advocating a National Caregiving Policy. It has organized a Caregiving Caucus of elected officials who have pledged to work toward such a policy. Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi is one of the original members.
The next frontier for people with disabilities may be society’s realization that caregivers are part of Canada’s infrastructure, as essential as highways and bridges, airports and public transit, the power grid and clean water. Twenty-five per cent of the Canadian work force can go to work because there is a caregiver looking after their family member back home. Canada works because caregivers work.
That may be a new idea for some people, but it is congruent with something that started around a family kitchen table in the Glebe 45 years ago. TCE now has a long and celebrated history that points to a future when more people will care about caring.
Tom Sherwood is a retired minister, university professor and the parent of a TCE resident.