Social Care & Mental Health
It is because of these two young men, that she has continued to pursue learning. Daily experience with her sons and their learning styles sparked a hunger to learn more about the capacity for individuals to experience positive quality of life .Ms. Corbett has continued to study through the years, earning a Bachelor of Education (University of Alberta), Masters of Counselling (Tri-University Initiative), and Masters of Social Work (University of Calgary).
Her late husband, Len often told her “Pat, Connect the Dots”. Over the years, it was not the connecting of the dots that was as much of a challenge as identifying the dots and repeatedly finding new pictures as the pattern of those dots changed or became clearer. Each stage of development, from infancy through adulthood held its own challenges and triumphs. Small things became victories: like the first time her son smiled and laughed spontaneously after losing that ability for 4 years. There were victories like her other son jumping from speaking less than 12 approximations of words at 19 months to speaking in complex sentences. These things were part of the disorder (a biological or medical condition of an individual). They were diagnosed as having a disability (inability to successfully accomplish tasks typical for their age). At the time, the family lived in Manitoba, where research was being done into Autism Spectrum Disorder. Because of this, they were able to access early intervention resources. The success of these interventions was apparent when someone told Pat that they did not believe there was anything “wrong” with the boys. She credits their childcare workers with helping them to learn to interact and communicate appropriately with others.
As the mother of two sons with autism, Pat has experienced personally the challenges faced by individuals and their families across the lifespan. She continues to modify her home and daily life so that her sons can enjoy more independent, community-based lives, and has seen firsthand the transformation such changes can make to both an individual and the people supporting them. The next step in the journey will involve putting plans in place so that her sons can continue to live in-community when she, as an ‘aging’ parent is no longer able to coordinate supports and resources and may join them as a recipient of supports.
Pat says that she is thankful for the resources and services that allows her sons to live in their home community. She is very proud of her sons, Adam, who discovered his artistic talents through the day program he attends; and Nathan, who is talented with his camera, and volunteers through his day program, with socializing cats to be adoptable. She is also extremely thankful to the individuals she has the pleasure of working with, and who continue to amaze her with their strength and determination to achieve their goals. She views it is an immense privilege, as a community worker, to be invited into their lives.
Pat is writing a book with her son Nathan, entitled ‘Sky’s the Limit’ using photos taken by her son and her husband. In the future, she hopes to take courses in Teaching English as a Second Language in order to couple this with resource information for newcomers. She would also love to work on further books with Nathan, whose own personal mission is to create more visual cues to improve the quality of daily life for people of all ages affected by cognitive disabilities.
Pat believes that while we may not be able to control how things turn out and may not always be able to ‘think outside the box’, we may be able to “reframe the box” and work within the circumstances in which we live. She believes that while a person does not choose to have a disability, (whether developmental such as autism, or acquired such as dementia), we can make some choices in daily living and as her sister, a very wise woman said, “there is always hope”.
Throughout her career and her tremendous contributions of helping others, the entire experience has humbled her. Ms. Corbett believes that she is living each day’s adventure as it comes. There is no recognition better deserved than being able to contribute to other people’s lives.