Our founder started this organization as a way of compiling and sharing the resources and support strategies she was developed in response to her diagnosis of chronic illness, and subsequent difficulty receiving diagnosis for her invisible disabilities. Since the conception of the platform in 2018, she has:
- Received a few more diagnoses
- Had to leave university due to health issues.
- The lack of self advocacy skills, specialized and compassionate medical team support, and the necessary language to find intersectional disability resources kept her from thriving in college much more than the physical issues.
- Got an associates degree from a wonderful community college, changed focus from engineering to psychology, physiology, and the social determinants of health.
- She changed majors while learning to integrate her compensatory strategies, treatments, and health crises into her lifestyle.
- She was inspired by the system the college used to holistically support students which took into account issues that students face that impact performance that are not school related.
- Started building a team of other passionate advocates and students to build the organization we need to make conditions better and reduce labor for inclusion for all.
- You can get to know some of our wonderful team members over the summer through our Instagram!
- Returned to her original university spring 2021 and had the opportunity to participate on a weeklong communication barriers project for a hospital in the area in a two person team and in a multidisciplinary role and drawing on her experience as a frequent ER visitor.
- This event and the similar access- based projects on campus inspired her to create channels to support disabled students getting involved in the design thinking process, and spurred the realization that the campus is ready for a culture shift around including biodiverse perspectives going forward if we are able to create a safe campus for students with support needs to thrive.
And now she is working with university faculty on a social and structural support pilot program for disabled students on campus with a focus on self-advocacy, identity, and resources currently available with the hopes of making education and occupation more accessible to her community.
