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the coriat family and the power of philanthropy in disability care
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david coriat(left) and lynn coriat (right) donated $5 million to fund new programs for people living with disabilities, inspired by their daughter jessica's(centre) experience with cerebral palsy.
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when david and lynn coriat’s daughter, jessica, was born, they immediately knew something wasn’t right. the doctors at the time told the new parents that there was a chance she wouldn’t survive, and if she did, she’d be severely handicapped. but 36 years later, their daughter jessica is thriving while living with cerebral palsy.
“she has mobility issues, so she is on a walker for short distances and a wheelchair for long distances,” said david. “but she’s very independent.”
david describes his daughter as having “the gift of gab,” and as someone who gets her way because the word no isn’t in her vocabulary. to her, she doesn’t feel as though she has a disability. she sees her cerebral palsy as just part of her life, the card she’s been dealt, and never complains.
“i have been with her at a mall where a mom and daughter stared at her, and she basically went to them and said, ‘haven’t you seen someone with a disability?’ she advocates for herself, put it that way.”
david and lynn are jessica’s primary caregivers, except when someone comes in the morning to help her “get away from mom and dad, as you can appreciate at her age.”
“she wants to be with people her own age,” said david, who says they hired a registered nurse (rn) a few years ago who was around her age so she wouldn’t feel stuck under her parents’ care. her rn acts as a life coach, drives her to work at holland bloorview kids rehabilitation hospital, takes her to medical appointments and does anything else she may need.
“they do things together. what do they do? i don’t have a clue. i don’t want to know. it’s between them,” said david, honouring his daughter’s independence and autonomy to live her own life without having to account for every second of it to someone else.
david and lynn can afford to hire someone to stay with jessica, but not everyone has that luxury. that’s why they donated $5 million to create the lifespan future care program within the
coriat youth transitions and development centre, designed to address barriers caregivers face when trying to plan their children’s futures as they age out of pediatric care and into adulthood.
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the barriers that exist for adults living with childhood-onset disabilities
jessica is incredibly competent and able to work. she’s volunteered and then worked part-time for 16 years, never missing a day. but when she was just starting out her professional career, she wasn’t treated as such.
a family doctor for the coriats a number of years ago, who had connections to a major bank, offered to connect with the ceo to help get jessica an interview. and it worked. she aced the first step in the process, a phone interview, and was invited back to meet in person.
“when they saw her come in with a walker, they basically said they had no position for her,” said david, who notes that while jessica has thick skin, that type of experience could really set a person back when they have a disability.
“that’s a type of example, the type of barriers that people with disabilities face,” he said. “and that has a lot to do with the understanding piece. people just don’t get it … people don’t understand the dedication that some of the people with disabilities have. they want to be accepted. but, unfortunately, they’re not.”
other barriers that david has witnessed through others are financial and time-based. many families don’t have the same means as the coriats do, which david notes he’s “very fortunate” for.
“as a reality check, every couple of months, i take her to a couple of her therapy appointments and what you see, by and large, are single moms struggling with a child with a disability. some have disabilities that are pretty severe, and not having a stable family background and the ability to afford the right equipment makes a difference,” he said.
“the difference is that they don’t get the right health care, and as a result, rather than going to a physician if they have a problem, they end up in the emergency department. that is black and white. that is a proven fact.”
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addressing gaps through their own means
david and lynn saw the barriers and decided that they couldn’t sit by and watch others continue to struggle. that’s why they created the coriat youth transitions and development centre with uhn’s toronto rehabilitation institute, as well as the lifespan future care program.
the program acts as a transitional support for children aging into adulthood while living with disabilities.
“for example, they would tell them, what’s available in terms of government support, how to use a bank card, the basics of life, they teach them the basics of life,” said david. “that’s really the lifespan, whereas in the future care, it’s more helping with programming and also helping with long-term planning.”
one of the initiatives they developed stemmed from a conversation they had with jessica.
“one day, jessica asked me, ‘dad, what happens when you and mom die? what’s going to happen with me?’” he said. “i had to sit down with her, showed her our will, told her, ‘okay, here’s the order of the people that are going to be taking care of you.”
they have five people on their list, just in case someone says no or is unable to help and that got him thinking about those who may not have a will or that many people as backups to help care for their children.
the initiative they created has parents fill out questionnaires to get started on thinking about who will be stepping up in the event they pass, and while some parents are hesitant because “they don’t want to think about death,” it’s been a helpful tool for many who never thought about it but now have a future plan in place.
they also help with equipment so others who need mobility or other aids for their disability can access them as well.
being able to help others is something david is incredibly fortunate for. he’s worked hard his entire life, has done well for himself and his family, and wants others to be able to access supports because he’s seen firsthand “the difference that it makes in my daughter.”
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“my daughter is pretty well, in a range of one to 10 in terms of disability, i’ll put her at a two, and i’m convinced the reason is because we had the financial means to gather the best doctors, the best equipment she needed, when she needed it,” he said. “people who have cp [cerebral palsy] like her probably are eight and a nine because the parent can’t afford the basic support to help the children, and my wife and i decided that maybe it’s time to try to help other people in the community.”
the importance of philanthropy in medical care
the act of philanthropy isn’t just about addressing issues that people and their families have experienced firsthand. it’s about acting as a “top-up” for the acute care not covered by the government.
the government is “really for the basics,” so without people with means offering to provide extra funding, medical care needs that improve quality of life often fall by the wayside.
“the governments are not funding the hospitals to the level they need to ensure that everybody gets proper care,” said david.
while david’s daughter jessica is the reason for his better understanding of what it’s really like to take care of a child with a disability, and ultimately his family’s need to give back so that others will be able to get the care she had access to, he wants awareness to be more commonplace.
“it’s very important for people that have the ability to explain to the population at large what disability is, how to help,” he said. “any information out there that can provide more information about some of the difficulties and challenges that people with disabilities have, the better.”
he continues, “hopefully, what that would do is induce or get people to think, maybe i can afford to support a program or back up a program. i mean, that’s what you want. you want people to start to think about it and hopefully help.”
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