"We always try to make everybody feel like they are part of the solution. When everyone feels included, everyone contributes to the solution."
Her Focus: Connecting families and caregivers with her team of consultants and publicly available resources.
Her Inspiration: As Nancy was growing up, her parents modeled the importance of living t
"We always try to make everybody feel like they are part of the solution. When everyone feels included, everyone contributes to the solution."
Her Focus: Connecting families and caregivers with her team of consultants and publicly available resources.
Her Inspiration: As Nancy was growing up, her parents modeled the importance of living the Golden Rule, “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” This belief system is the foundation of the work she does, and as a result—the time she puts in never feels like work, but more like a journey.
"We see the landscape in a way that none other of the individual players do. We come in to build a relationship, then identify the services you need. We can’t do anything until we earn your trust."
Her Approach: Over decades of work with people with disabilities, Nancy saw that the system has become complex. There are numerous disconnected managers of the many parts and no one overseeing all of it. Her vision for Inclusion Consultants is to connect, coach and empower families and caregivers to benefit from publicly available resources.
"Trust is important because you are asking people to make changes, typically in times of crisis. You can build trust in a relationship, if you can prove that you will always be there."
"Every individual and situation is unique. My passion is working alongside families, school teams, and other professionals to meet those unique needs."
Her Focus: Meaningful inclusion for children and young adults in education and the community as a whole.
Her Inspiration: Brooke has the unique perspective of growing up in the disabilit
"Every individual and situation is unique. My passion is working alongside families, school teams, and other professionals to meet those unique needs."
Her Focus: Meaningful inclusion for children and young adults in education and the community as a whole.
Her Inspiration: Brooke has the unique perspective of growing up in the disability community alongside her brother with Down syndrome. She is also the mother of two little girls, one of whom has multiple diagnoses.
"For inclusion to be effective it has to be meaningful. "
Her Approach: She is known for educating clients and families and preparing them to take the lead whenever possible. She arms her clients with “one liners," key terminology, and effective strategies to be their own best advocate.
"I want to give you the knowledge you need to handle any situation with confidence."
“One of my priorities in life is helping people.”
Her Focus: Discovering what a client needs from her and giving it to them in a dignified way.
Her Inspiration: Kathy has an encompassing compassion for people. She wants to help others achieve a better quality of life and reach their personal best. Her character has been shaped by being
“One of my priorities in life is helping people.”
Her Focus: Discovering what a client needs from her and giving it to them in a dignified way.
Her Inspiration: Kathy has an encompassing compassion for people. She wants to help others achieve a better quality of life and reach their personal best. Her character has been shaped by being in a military family and always learning to make the best of each situation. She shares those skills to help others become more resilient in daily life.
“When you invite people in, make sure you make them understand they are welcome with you."
Her Approach: Kathy's priority as an inclusion specialist is to establish trust and to make a connection with her clients. She has broad experience and interests and connects on a personal level while maintaining a professional relationship. She calls her approach "tough love," which to her means getting her clients to recognize that there are some things that need to be done in order to grow and learn, "even if you don't want to do them or if doing them makes you feel uncomfortable.''
“It doesn’t matter to me who you are or what you can or cannot do, I treat people the way that I want to be treated, with dignity, understanding, and respect.”
"All people with disabilities continue to develop new skills over their lifetime. We start by accepting individuals as they are and providing the appropriate level of support."
Her Focus: Solving inclusion challenges with adults with disabilities and their families.
Her Inspiration: Donna founded SPARC, SPecially Adapted Resource Clubs,
"All people with disabilities continue to develop new skills over their lifetime. We start by accepting individuals as they are and providing the appropriate level of support."
Her Focus: Solving inclusion challenges with adults with disabilities and their families.
Her Inspiration: Donna founded SPARC, SPecially Adapted Resource Clubs, because she wanted to offer adults with disabilities a welcoming place with opportunities to learn every day. The weekday clubhouses are in four areas of Northern Virginia.
"I’ve learned to listen, to really just hear things truly from another person’s point of view. We learn from each other at SPARC."
Her Approach: Her first goal is to help the adult client with a disability have a voice and express their preferences. Next, is to make sure the client's caregivers are knowledgeable about resources and take care of themselves. And just as much, to help make sure that service providers are doing what they are supposed to do.
"I know that adult children are very different when they're with their families. Our relationships with our participants and their families are at the core of everything because relationships feed into trust. Trust is the foundation for successful outcomes."
"The challenge for parents and caregivers is to feel responsibility and still be willing to hand some things over to someone else, and say, 'Help me.'”
Her Focus: Building language skills in social and work situations, and skills that affect understandability of speech.
Her Inspiration: Miriam's adult daughter has developmental disabilities
"The challenge for parents and caregivers is to feel responsibility and still be willing to hand some things over to someone else, and say, 'Help me.'”
Her Focus: Building language skills in social and work situations, and skills that affect understandability of speech.
Her Inspiration: Miriam's adult daughter has developmental disabilities. Miriam and her husband struggled to sustain their careers, to manage their daughter's disability and to plan for the future. When they realized they couldn't do it all, they turned to Inclusion Consultants for help. And now Miriam is giving the same kind of help to other families like hers.
"I surrendered a lot of what I do to Nancy and Inclusion Consultants because I knew what was in my toolbox. But I didn’t know what all the possibilities were for her."
Her Approach: Miriam says she wants parents to plan for "DD+1," which is the day after both parents have died. It's a blunt way of looking at it, but it frames the discussion in a clear way. Her goal is to help caregivers make sure that on DD+1, their child's life is as similar to the days before as possible.
"My daughter is taking on roles we never thought she would ever take on because we built in a structure to support her."
"Everyone is kind of afraid, parents included. You approach it by nurturing, but also with tough love."
Her Focus: Case management; connecting families to community resources; supporting clients and families with transition planning.
Her Inspiration: Mikelle is inspired by witnessing others living each day to their fullest potential. Ov
"Everyone is kind of afraid, parents included. You approach it by nurturing, but also with tough love."
Her Focus: Case management; connecting families to community resources; supporting clients and families with transition planning.
Her Inspiration: Mikelle is inspired by witnessing others living each day to their fullest potential. Over the past 16 years, Mikelle has been dedicated to helping persons with IDD and mental illness gain the life skills necessary to be successful in their homes and in their community. She is dedicated to helping people gain independence, confidence, and personal success in all areas of life.
"I have the ability to connect with adults with disabilities because I am able to gain trust. And I don’t give up."
Her Approach: She starts by building rapport and establishing a trusting relationship. Mikelle empowers her clients and caregivers by actively listening to them about what they want their life to be. With that in mind, she creates and helps maintain a system of supports that can get them through challenges. At times, she will step in to defuse a stressful situation, but always with the goal of giving the caregiver resources and contacts that can empower them to handle things themselves.
"Making decisions for your adult child encourages them to be dependent on you. It’s okay to let go. If you let go, you will see your child can do things you didn’t expect.”
"I work with people to help them navigate the world around them. That’s different for everyone, with different living situations, work environments and social lives."
Her Focus: Helping clients develop social skills, plan social interactions and make community connections.
Her Inspiration: Merle's son, Adam, is an adult with cerebral pals
"I work with people to help them navigate the world around them. That’s different for everyone, with different living situations, work environments and social lives."
Her Focus: Helping clients develop social skills, plan social interactions and make community connections.
Her Inspiration: Merle's son, Adam, is an adult with cerebral palsy who she says is "tired of listening to his parents." She knows from experience that adults with disabilities need someone they can turn to for advice that a parent might give but who is NOT their own parent.
"I'm not your mother, but I can do what I think your mother might have done."
Her Approach: Merle takes her clients with disabilities under her wing and helps them decide what their needs are. When she's talking with caregivers and clients about goals, she reminds the caregiver of the client’s strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing a client’s needs helps set realistic expectations for the caregiver, but recognizing their strengths helps them both aim higher.
"It’s really valuable to see a situation through fresh eyes. Inclusion Consultants has a different perspective, and we understand the context of the system."
"I am a strong believer in dignity. In this job, I can meet people with grace, and I can hear them out on every single idea, complaint, or wonder without ever having to say that this is the wrong forum for that issue."
Their Focus: My goal from the first meeting to the hundredth meeting with a client is to allow the client to name all of t
"I am a strong believer in dignity. In this job, I can meet people with grace, and I can hear them out on every single idea, complaint, or wonder without ever having to say that this is the wrong forum for that issue."
Their Focus: My goal from the first meeting to the hundredth meeting with a client is to allow the client to name all of their goals, to help them communicate and plan with others, and keep working on these goals even when those goals feel far out of reach. Life experiences may have given people tastes of independence, empowerment, but also fear and trauma. I help people and their families answer questions about how to make more intentional choices and independent connections. I help them plan for the future.
Their Inspiration: For so long, working in non-profits or working inside the group home system, I felt like I lacked the flexibility in my role to help people the way that they wanted to be helped. Everyone has heard the word “No” enough in their lifetimes. We work alongside- we are not just staff, or friends, or family, we are their megaphone.
"Through a twist of fate, many of my clients are close to my age of 30 years old, and I am able to empathize with their experiences."
Their Approach: I take my work and my role in people’s lives very seriously. People who have faced huge challenges and disappointments in life deserve to be met with directness in response. Many people have a clear vision for the things they want in life but they don’t believe that others will support them, and others need our mentorship to feel safe and begin to see their strengths. I believe I have something in common with everyone. I have found ways to connect with all of my clients through humor and storytelling, through texts that come in at odd hours, through calls about our pets that aren’t just about our pets, and through a shared drive to accomplish their dreams.
"I meet people where they are: People always find little ways of showing you how they are dealing with the intense pressures they face."
“Since I was little, I always was drawn to the kids in school who looked like they could use a friend or someone to talk to.“
Her Focus: My aim is to bring a sensitive, caring approach adults in our community who could use a friend or someone to do life with. I wholeheartedly believe that it is not good for people to be alone. We need eac
“Since I was little, I always was drawn to the kids in school who looked like they could use a friend or someone to talk to.“
Her Focus: My aim is to bring a sensitive, caring approach adults in our community who could use a friend or someone to do life with. I wholeheartedly believe that it is not good for people to be alone. We need each other to live healthy and whole lives. I am passionate about supporting others in the day-to-day events of life because it is the day-to-day events that make up a life well lived.
Her Inspiration: Making new friends as an adult can be hard! Since I was very young, I have always tried to bring people together, to bring about the organic building of friendships and community. It is important to carve out spaces where all adults--neurodiverse, differently abled, or just in need of new friends--have opportunities to meet and connect with others. Part of my job with Inclusion Consultants is to facilitate a group in which we prioritize social connection and strive to create events wherein adults with disabilities can gather and engage in community.
“As I form relationships with clients and their families, I find myself learning just as much from them about living well and caring for others as I try to demonstrate.”
Her Approach: We all struggle to let others see our weaknesses. My approach is to use the power of transparency. It allows us to engage in healthy community, to connect, to do life with one another in super fulfilling ways. I pride myself in embracing this transparency as a community mentor. It makes for the most genuine of relationships with coworkers and clients, and gives my clients the assurance that we are in this together! I am learning as I go. We all are. Let's learn together.
“The beauty of this job is that it shines a light on the fact that we are all differently abled. Every person alive has different strengths and different weaknesses.”
“Each individual and their family are the experts. They know their interests, preferences, effective strategies and goals. I look forward to becoming part of each individual’s team and helping them to identify and achieve their goals.”
Her Focus: To help connect individuals with resources and services, monitor and coordinate those service
“Each individual and their family are the experts. They know their interests, preferences, effective strategies and goals. I look forward to becoming part of each individual’s team and helping them to identify and achieve their goals.”
Her Focus: To help connect individuals with resources and services, monitor and coordinate those services, develop life plans so the individual and family can feel comfortable knowing their loved one is and will continue to be cared for, even in their absence. I am also able to serve as an educational advocate for parents who are attempting to access services for their child or need support in monitoring those services in special education.
Her Inspiration: I have 35+ years of experience working in private and public educational settings with students of all ages and their families, navigating the systems for special education and preparing students for the transition into the adulthood. It was extremely rewarding to connect with each student and their family. Having an opportunity to support individuals requiring adult services and their families allows me to continue making connections with people, giving me a feeling of fulfillment. I have met some amazing people and feel privileged to be a part of their lives. My experience was also helpful in supporting my own child through the special education system and the transition into adulthood, which continues to be an ongoing process. Every step counts.
Her Approach: As I connect and support people, I want them to feel accepted, productive and as independent as possible. We are all unique and have different ways of learning and viewing ourselves and the world. It is important to listen to each other and to be open to others points of view.
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