If you’ve ever worried about what adulthood might look like after high school or you’ve ever been inspired to create a meaningful space for your child to spend adulthood, tune in to our interview with critically acclaimed author, Cammie McGovern.
Cammie McGovern was awarded a creative writing fellowship at Stanford University and has received numerous prizes for her short fiction. Her stories have appeared in many magazines including Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, and Seventeen, and she is the author of another novel, The Art of Seeing. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband and three children, the eldest of whom is autistic. She is one of the founders of Whole Children, a resource center that runs after-school classes and programs for children with special needs.
We talk about:
*The disability cliff
*Envisioning adulthood
*Community-based employment
*Waivers
*Shift away from sheltered workshops
*Finding the right fit in adulthood
*Community-based day services (CBDS)
*Different models around the country that support adults with disabilities
*What presuming competence looks like in adulthood
*Considering unique ideas for adult living arrangements
*Grassroots efforts to build a day program
*Looking into the future with hope and optimism, rather than dread
*Considering commonsense accommodations
Links
NY Times Article - Looking Into the Future for a Child with Autism
Book - Hard Landings - Looking into the Future with a Child with Autism