Self-Determined!

Maddie's mom and grandmother met many inspiring individuals in the disability community at the Third Annual Living with a Disability conference held in Hurst, Texas on February 21, 2015, hosted by Texas Parent 2 Parent. We enjoy visiting with people who share their experiences that can help so many people. It doesn't matter if you are a new parent of a child with a disability or whether you have been going through the motions for years. There is something to be learned by everyone.

Here are some highlights and things that make you go, “Hmmmm”:

• Is your child living a service life?  If your child is receiving services such as therapy on a very regular basis, whether in school or outside of school, he or she may be living a so-called "service life".  Your child may be better served spending time with family and friends so they can get to know them and help them gain their interdependence and encourage them, which helps their quality of life.
  
• My child living on his/her own, really?  Seriously, it's not out of the question. We met several adults ages 20 to 34 who are living in their own home or their own level of their parents' home.  Some have jobs, drive, and take public transportation. Some even have their own business making beautiful glass jewelry. It's pretty fascinating and it really does give me hope. What I learned is that it takes baby steps to get them to this point, and they still may need ongoing assistance, but living on their own can be a reality.
  
• Individuals 14 and older team up to learn "self-determination" skills!  So exciting! There is a new group starting up in Richland Hills that I would love to model after in Midlothian. The group is led by and for individuals with disabilities ages 14 and older to work together and learn from each other on building skills such as self-awareness, setting goals, information sharing, and empowerment. They adopted the principles from the National Autism Resource & Information Center - click here for The Four Principles of Self-Determination. I plan to attend their meetings to see how they format it so I can get ideas about starting one in our town.  The group meets the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month from Noon-1:30 pm at 7165 Latham Drive B, Richland Hills, Texas 76118 (lunch provided). If you want to attend with me, please contact me at 972.571.6904 or dixonchick@aol.com.
  

As usual, the conference was awesome. It's an annual conference and I hope that you can attend with me next year.  I'll be sure to send registration info in 2016 to the For Maddie's Sake email distribution list as soon as I get the information.

Donna Dixon, Co-founder of For Maddie's Sake, Inc., dixonchick@aol.com

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