As we ring in the new year, Easter Seals Ontario will be celebrating 100 years of changing the world for children with physical disabilities. On this momentous occasion, we look back on the exciting history of Easter Seals Ontario and its profound impact on the lives of thousands over the past century. Since its inception in 1922, Easter Seals Ontario has been forging the way for enhanced care and services for children with physical disabilities. Easter Seals Ontario has pioneered many essential programs and services over the past century. Notably, being the first organization to provide in-house nurses, to build fully accessible summer camps, and to build a provincial treatment center with in-patient and out-patient facilities.
The organization was also instrumental in establishing a network of children’s treatment centres throughout the province now known as Empowered Kids Ontario, creating northern medical clinics so families would not have to travel to the southern part of the province to see a specialist, and initiating public health campaigns to promote issues such as the pasteurization of milk, bike helmet safety, and the benefits of folic acid.
Easter Seals was built with grassroots support from communities across Ontario. To this day, they rely solely on the generosity of their supporters to provide funding for costly mobility and accessibility equipment, opportunities to participate in fully accessible camping and recreational programming, and scholarships that allow kids with physical disabilities to pursue their dreams of post-secondary education. A donation to Easter Seals today will help kids with physical disabilities in Ontario continue to access life-changing programs and services.
Throughout the past century, Easter Seals has survived and evolved through depression, war, peace, prosperity, economic recessions, and a global pandemic. They are more committed than ever to doing everything within their power to help remove barriers and create a more inclusive society so children and youth with physical disabilities can experience greater independence, freedom, and dignity. Celebrate with Easter Seals this holiday season. Learn more about joining Easter Seals’ century-long legacy of inclusion, accessibility, and acceptance at EasterSeals.org.