Small idea, big outcome

By Melissa Meehan
BEFORE Outlook, or Minibah, those with a mental disability had to travel to Nunawading to attend a centre that would meet their needs.
Unhappy with the long-distance travel, a group of people in the Berwick shire formed a subcommittee to bring a centre to the area.
In September 1970 a site in Pakenham was touted as an ideal place for such a centre and a building fund was set up to raise $25,000 to erect a day centre for mentally disabled children in the Berwick shire.
The building was to be built in two stages, at a total cost of $250,000.
Since then, Outlook has become an iconic part of Pakenham.
And although the Outlook brand has grown into a service that provides lifelong learning and skills development to individuals, families and business groups – it has not lost its aim – to provide a service for those who need it.
Chief executive Tony Fitzgerald said the dedicated committee that fought to establish the school in 1970 was made up of parents and local councillors whose sole aim was to build a special school for children with a disability.
“Those parents demanded that their children had the right to access an education like every other child,” he said.
“It is interesting to note that 40 years on Cathy Smith has led another fight to build the new special school at Officer.”
Outlook was one of the first special schools in Victoria to integrate the majority of its students into the mainstream school system and it was the first organisation in Australia to pay its employees with disability productivity award wages in 1995.
It was also the first organisation to gain quality accreditation in allits government-funded and commercial activities.
Outlook Community Centre also conducts courses in a friendly and supportive environment and offers more than 90 accredited and non-accredited courses.
Courses are offered according to the needs of the community.
Certificates are provided on completion of all courses.