OUR VISION
To shape a future where the growing number of high functioning teens and young adults with Developmental Disabilities, can more easily transition into productive members of their communities...
...where they AND the community can more easily recognize everyone has strengths and capabilities... as well as weaknesses and burdens...
...and by working together in partnership, each is able to bear up another's burden... creating an environment where all may thrive!!
When elephants walk holding tails in trunks, it portrays the strength
of one uplifting the weakness of another. (Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye up one another's burdens...")
Our Projects
"The Elephant Walk"
The Numbers Don't Lie...
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):
- 1 in 6 children in the United States were identified with some form of developmental disability in the 2006 - 2008 timeframe, .
- These cases range in severity from mild impairments such as speech
and language delays to serious developmental disabilities such as
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). - The rate of ASD has sky rocketed from to 1 in 68 children
- For decades the rate of ASD was on the order of 1 in 2000 but the
latest estimate from the CDC is 1 in 68 overall... and 1 in 42 for boys.
Some will argue that the ASD rate has not changed that much and that we have simply expanded the definition of what is categorized as “on the Autism Spectrum” …. but even if that were true, it just means that we have been dramatically underestimating the problem all along!!
The numbers are alarming to say the least, . . . and while continuing to search for causes, treatments, and cures is paramount, …. we must also consider how to develop opportunities and transition approaches for this growing population to become more independent and productive members of theircommunities.