Vera Perlin

Elizabeth Vera Perlin, OC (1902 – 1974) was a Canadian advocate for the rights of the mentally disabled and a reformer who influenced the entire school system of Newfoundland and broke new ground on a national scale with her vision and accomplishments. Perlin was the founder of the Newfoundland Association for the Help of Retarded Children.

Perlin was born in St. John's, Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), the daughter of Mitchie Ann (Manuel) and John Chalker Crosbie, married Albert B. Perlin. She was educated at St. John's at Holloway School and Westminster Ladies' College, Toronto, Ontario. While a member of the advisory board of the United Church Orphanage, she had persuaded church officials to fund an experimental school modeled after such schools she had studied in England. Perlin recruited Molly Dingle as teacher and opened the school in the orphanage on Hamilton Avenue in 1954. In 1955, Perlin founded the Newfoundland Association for the Help of Retarded Children where she served as president until 1974. With the aid of donations and volunteer work the association opened the Vera Perlin School in 1959 on Patrick Street. By the time of her death there were ten such schools opened throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Awards

  • Co-founder of Newfoundland's first Home and School Association.
  • 1955, President of the Regional Council of Home and School Associations.
  • 1962, first Citizen of the Year Award given by St. John's
  • 1967, one of 11 Canadian women honoured as Women of the Century by the National Council of Jewish Women.
  • 1968, appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for her "services to the community in many organizations, particularly those dealing with the care and treatment of retarded children".
  • 1970, awarded an honorary LL.D. by Memorial University of Newfoundland.

See also


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