Personal Stories from our Families and Community Partners
Congratulations to participants from the WOW Center, who completed The Advocacy Network On Disabilities’ A Guide to Self-Advocacy training.
(Top Left to Right) Jerome, Stuart, Pedro, Megan, Alex, Jennifer, Hanz, Roy, Amie
(Bottom) Eduardo and Damian Gregory
The seven session training provides information, direction, and support to help those with developmental, cognitive, and other disabilities build the necessary skills to become more assertive, self-assured, and empowered leaders in their own lives and the disability community as a whole.
Annie Mendez, Program Administrator The Thinking Child Christian Academy Summer 2016
This summer, we held a performing arts camp that had children singing, dancing, and memorizing lines in preparation for an end of summer showcase.
For the first time, four of our campers had disabilities. We were a little nervous at first, but were committed to including them in our program and knew that we would work to make the necessary accommodations so they could participate. With open hearts and minds, we partnered with the families, and we all committed to keeping the lines of communication open. The boys visited our camp before it began so they could become familiar with the school, classrooms, and teachers. We made several accommodations to ensure they felt comfortable and welcome, and could fully participate in all activities.
We are so happy to have worked with the brothers. They loved camp and we loved them! They enjoyed all of the creative activities; singing, dancing, acting – as well as literacy and fitness. It was very gratifying to see that the other students in their class stepped up as leaders and helpers. One day their mom called to thank us for working with her boys and for making them feel so welcome. She told us that when the boys came home every day, they could not stop talking about camp and their teacher Ms. Veronica. Mom said that her son with autism would smile and laugh, as he yelled, “Ms. Veronica”! She was astonished, since he rarely spoke. It was a rewarding experience for us and for the boys. We can’t wait to see them again next summer
