scosa (the Spastic Centres of South Australia Inc.) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n organisation providing a range of supports to children and adults with disabilities. Initially it focused on people with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

. In August 2019, it was announced that scosa was to merge into Novita.

History

Scosa had its beginnings in the efforts of parents of children with cerebral palsy. In 1946, Norman Taylor, the then-president of The Crippled Children's Association of South Australia (now known as Novita Children's Services), invited Daphne Gum to return to Adelaide to establish a centre for the care of children with cerebral palsy. Gum was the Director of the Spastic Centre ("The Centre") was established in the then Adelaide Children's Hospital, officially opening on 6 March 1946. The Centre used one room in the first-floor Outpatients' Department. As the lifts were old and unreliable, at times pupils were carried up and down the stairs. On 3 November 1949 the Centre moved to a prefabricated building of three rooms which had been purchased in Kermode Street, North Adelaide. Scosa was incorporated on 18 April 1950 as the South Australian Spastic Paralysis Welfare Association Inc. SCOSA established a home (opened 29 November 1952) and school at Woodville and also provided other services including: speech pathology; physiotherapy; occupational therapy; medical services; splint making; accommodation; with palliative care and a nursing home services. From 1995 the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

Department of Education took on the responsibility for children with disabilities and

deinstitutionalisation Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the 1950 ...

led residents of institutional accommodation into the community, with CARA (Community Accommodation and Respite Agency Inc).

Miss South Australia and Miss Australia

The Miss South Australia Quest was run by Spastic Centres of South Australia Inc. which as a member of The Spastic Centres of Australia ran the Miss Australia Quest/Awards for 45 years from 1954 to 2000. Over its duration entrants, their families, committees, sponsors and the general public of Australia raised in excess of A$87 million.About Us - Miss Australia
Cerebral Palsy Alliance website.

People

*Daphne Gum * Kevin Scarce (Patron)

References

External links

{{Official website, http://www.scosa.com.au/ 1950 establishments in Australia Disability organisations based in Australia Health charities in Australia Children's charities based in Australia Medical and health organisations based in South Australia Organizations established in 1950 Cerebral palsy organizations

History

Miss South Australia and Miss Australia

People

See also

References

External links