Historic Overview:
1948 was an important year in the
history of special services in South Africa. As a result of advertisements in
the press a group of people met together to discuss what could be done for a
long-neglected group of the handicapped – the cerebral palsied.
The first meeting on 6th August 1948 may have only consisted of 41 people, but the needs of the cerebral palsied were discussed and from there the number of people involved increased and the first most important project was the establishment of the Forest Town School for Cerebral Palsied Children. The first 11 pupils started at the school in January 1949.
The next important milestone was the establishment of Forest Farm Centre, the venue from which they operate (see Outreach and Directions links). A steering committee met with the main objective of establishing a workshop to train cerebral palsied adults in various handcrafted products so they could be prepared to enter the open market place.
It eventually became apparent that certain C.P. (cerebral palsied) adults would not be able to find work in the open market and the residential centre for cerebral palsied adults was developed. Today, there are 2 sections:
The Forest Farm Centre for able-bodied adults and the Forest Haven Centre for the severely handicapped adults.
The Future:
TACCP is involved with outreach
projects. There are many sprouting organisations and assistance is given to them
where possible. The assistance consists of supplying equipment, clothing, fund
management and giving expert advice on the daily management of C.P. children.
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a disability of
posture and movement caused by damage to, or the imperfect development of those
areas of, the brain which controls movement. The damage may occur before or
during birth. The effect is that the control by the brain over the functioning
of the musculature and co-ordination of the body is disturbed. There is no
direct injury to the limbs as such.
While the essential feature of cerebral palsy is that there is inadequate brain control over movements, other areas of the brain are frequently involved as well as the vast majority of cerebral palsied persons have additional disabilities. The most important of these is mental impairment. While about half of all cerebral palsied persons have average or above intelligence and are therefore capable of profiting from formal education, the remainder have moderate to severe intellectual disabilities and these benefit from admission to training schools or special care centres.
Community Dev:
TACCP also has a support group for
parents of newly diagnosed children.
Funding:
TACCP is a recipient of the National State
Lottery.
They also get donations from the community and the corporate world in the form of:
Money,
Books,
Clothes,
and Food.
Your donations will also be appreciated
by TACCP.
Volunteers:
TACCP has and is looking for volunteers:
at Community level,
for Projects,
and to help in the Activity Centres.
Activities:
We provide individual stimulation activities including painting, other art work as well as music therapy at our Activity & Stimulation Centre on the Forest Farm grounds.
There is a holiday programme in December sponsored by TACCP which is held at Forest Farm and outings are also organised.
Activities are held once a month and birthday parties are also celebrated.
For more information, you can consult the About TACCP link or the phone directory to find an organization in your vicinity.