My name is Patty. I work at the Adaptive Community Approach Program.
I realized when I was working in rehab or even when I had my own private practice doing aquatic therapy that I was drawn to community work and always completely was immersed in the passion or the philosophy and mission that ACAP was. And that was to provide people with meaningful opportunities where they could be valued citizens in a community.
Initially it was a job. And then maybe 15 in, I had my eldest daughter who ended up having a neuronal migrational disorder. It was a horrifying time for a new mom. When that happened, I was like, "Oh my goodness, my life is about to change."
Her future, I was concerned, was going to be bleak. For young people with disabilities, they really don't have a ton of options. They're immersed in a birth to three program. They're immersed in therapy all through school. They get out of high school. And if you're not working a job, you go to a day service program. And that's it. Those are your options. And I was so frustrated with that and always fell back on the security knowing that ACAP would be there. And that with ACAP, she could be a contributing member in her community. And so I hung on to that throughout her upbringing. That's probably how it became really personal to me.
We believe people need to be able to do things independently. But the only way that we're going to learn to do it is by trying, failing, and then trying again with an adaptation. And that, it can be very empowering for people. That's what I feel about that. I think people need to be given the respect to have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to keep on improving.
I realized when I was working in rehab or even when I had my own private practice doing aquatic therapy that I was drawn to community work and always completely was immersed in the passion or the philosophy and mission that ACAP was. And that was to provide people with meaningful opportunities where they could be valued citizens in a community.
Initially it was a job. And then maybe 15 in, I had my eldest daughter who ended up having a neuronal migrational disorder. It was a horrifying time for a new mom. When that happened, I was like, "Oh my goodness, my life is about to change."
Her future, I was concerned, was going to be bleak. For young people with disabilities, they really don't have a ton of options. They're immersed in a birth to three program. They're immersed in therapy all through school. They get out of high school. And if you're not working a job, you go to a day service program. And that's it. Those are your options. And I was so frustrated with that and always fell back on the security knowing that ACAP would be there. And that with ACAP, she could be a contributing member in her community. And so I hung on to that throughout her upbringing. That's probably how it became really personal to me.
We believe people need to be able to do things independently. But the only way that we're going to learn to do it is by trying, failing, and then trying again with an adaptation. And that, it can be very empowering for people. That's what I feel about that. I think people need to be given the respect to have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to keep on improving.