THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606050125
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 84 lines
Somewhere in Chesapeake, there are 39 disabled citizens living and working on their own, thanks in large part to Joseph H. ``Red'' Austin.
Austin, a 76-year-old retired Navy chief warrant officer who lives in Indian River, co-founded Chesapeake's first group home for mentally retarded adults in 1978.
Residents of the group home operated by the Chesapeake Organization for Mentally Retarded Adults learn basic skills for living independently so they don't have to remain with their families or in institutions.
For his sponsorship of the program and for four decades of work helping the disabled, Austin recently was presented the James C. Wheat Jr. Award, given annually by the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. Wheat, legally blind, served as the first chairman of the Virginia Board for the Rights of the Disabled. He served such organizations as the Salvation Army Advisory Board, the Richmond Eye Hospital and the Virginia Commission for the Visually Handicapped.
The Wheat award goes to those who have improved the quality of life for people with disabilities.
``My work has all been a labor of love,'' said Austin.
Candace B. Waller, executive director of the Chesapeake Community Services Board, said Austin was known throughout Hampton Roads for bringing disabled peoples' issues to the community's attention.
``It is his kind of advocacy, vision and volunteering that helps people realize that persons with disabilities are a part of the community, not an afterthought,'' Waller said.
Austin was more modest about his contribution. ``I just stepped in where I saw a need or where I felt like I could make a difference,'' he said.
He had a personal reason for becoming involved.
In 1955, he and his wife, Marie, learned that their 5-year-old son, Chris, was mentally retarded. The doctors told them that Chris would need special training and care for the rest of his life. Austin said the family went through all kinds of feelings and struggles to come to terms with his son's disability.
``After I learned to say, `I have a retarded son,' that's when I learned to fight and become involved,'' Austin said.
Throughout the years, Austin has helped because he wanted to make serious changes and because he like the work. He has been involved in a variety of local programs for the handicapped, including serving as scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop for youngsters with mental retardation.
In 1967, Austin and his wife had to put Chris in a state mental institution. Chris had severe behavior problems, and needed the kind of care his family could not provide. Austin said the conditions in the institution were so deplorable that he had to try to make some changes.
He contacted parents across the state and became a co-founder of Regional Parents Advocacy, a statewide parents' group. The group initiated a letter-writing campaign to improve conditions at training centers and state hospitals.
The group also appealed to the state General Assembly for help. In 1971, a special session of the legislature appropriated $5 million for more and better-qualified staff members, improved treatment and new facilities for the disabled.
In 1970, Austin and the parents' group led a recruitment program to encourage college students who major in special education to volunteer hours as part of their training. Austin said the attention from the students helped the disabled patients.
Later, Austin helped develop the Chesapeake Vocational Center and the Southeastern Virginia Training Center. The facilities provide training in living skills, hygiene, communication and job training. The goal is to help the disabled become self-sufficient and to live as independently as possible.
Austin became a founding member and the first chairman of the Chesapeake Assistance Trust Program, which manages estates and monitors the care for disabled people after their parents or guardians have died. Now he's a trustee.
Legally, Austin said, the disabled cannot be beneficiaries unless they can manage the estate. But with the assistance program, disabled children can have comfortable lives. Twenty-six Chesapeake families are now involved in the program and two estates are under management care.
From 1987 through 1995, Austin served on the Chesapeake Community Services Board. He was chairman of the board in 1993 and later served as the liaison to the Chesapeake Foundation for the Mentally Disabled.
Chris Austin also has benefited from his dad's continuing work. He now lives in his own apartment and works at the Chesapeake Vocational Center. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Joseph ``Red'' Austin co-founded a group home for mentally retarded
adults in 1978. by CNB