Feature Story - People Choose Their Personal Goals

Spring 2004

My name is Jeany Shui-Jean Pak. In the years I have been with the Association I always wanted a computer of my own. For a very long time - the last seven years - I was putting it on my Personal Support Agreement but it never happened to me till this past Christmas. I’ll give a brief history so you understand how the outcome of "people choosing their personal goals" became a reality for me. I never thought in a million years that this dream would come true for me.

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Jean Shui-Jean Pak
The Advocate for Community Living

Winner 2003

Hello my name is Tania Mash-Gagnon. I just wanted to take this opportunity to share with everyone this wonderful story of how the dreams of people we support can come true.

I’ll give you a brief history to understand how the outcome of "people choosing their personal goals" became a reality. I first started working with Mervin Rajala as one of his casual support staff in the fall of 1996. My shifts were sporadic and at different times of the day, so it took a while to get to know him. We would go for walks, browse in shopping centres, stroll through the parks and sometimes we would watch movies together. It wasn’t long before you could key into the underlying comments you would often hear him say, such as "I want children . . ."

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Larry Sochackey and Tania Mash-Gagnon
The Advocate for Community Living