This week we chat with Dee Sapp, Executive Director of Accessibility Bridge Corporation, and mother of three including an Olympic swimmer with an intellectual disability. Dee shares with us how her passion for community inclusion lead to great things for her son and to the birth of an organization that serves to encourage people with all disabilities to integrate into the larger society and connect them with resources.
We talk about:
- Raising a son who is a competitive athlete with an intellectual disability
- Getting a proper, accurate diagnosis before the age of 18 to get appropriate services
- How support decreased after elementary school
- Pushing for inclusion in order to have success
- Getting the IEP team to think outside the box
- Exploring college options for students with intellectual disabilities
- Discovering the Think College resource
- Building the college wish list: social inclusion, academic inclusion, competitive sports
- Finding recognized and accredited programs
- Switching from public school to home school to prepare for college
- Creating a movement to rethink what people with disabilities can do
- Company programs targeted at people with disabilities
- Redefining the end goal, and thinking beyond graduating from high school
Links
Accessibility Bridge Corporation
Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council