Vera Perlin

Vera Perlin

Elizabeth Vera Perlin, OC (1902 – 1974) was the founder of the Newfoundland Association for the Help of Retarded Children, born St. John's, Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), daughter of Mitchie Ann (Manuel) and John Chalker Crosbie, married Albert B. Perlin. Vera Perlin, an advocate for the rights of the mentally disabled and a reformer who influenced the entire school system of Newfoundland and Labrador and broke new ground on a national scale with her vision and accomplishments.

Educated at St. John's at Holloway School and Westminster Ladies' College, Toronto. While a member of the advisory board of the United Church Orphanage, she had persuaded church officials to fund an experimental school modeled after such schools she had studied in England. Perlin recruited Molly Dingle as teacher and open the school in the Orphanage on Hamilton Avenue in 1954. Then in 1955 Perlin founded the Newfoundland Association for the Help of Retarded Children where she served as president until 1974. With the aid of donations and volunteer work the association opened the Vera Perlin School in 1959 on Patrick Street. By the time of her death there were ten such schools opened throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.