Our Story

My sisters, Linda and Betsy, and I are passionate about spreading awareness about Autism and those with disabilities because we have children who require extra care and would like to effect change for other children and adults like them in the area.  My son was diagnosed with Autism at 3 years old and that changed the rest of the course of our family’s lives.  We cried at losing the imagined life we had dreamt of for ourselves as our son had a very uncertain future, where we didn’t know if he would ever be self-sufficient.  Embarking on our new journey, we found the avenues to access help were byzantine and hard to even find info about.  There were services to help my son out there, but it took everything out of me to navigate the applications, hour-wait phone calls, home inspections, and more.  As a college graduate, it was already a hard process, so I couldn’t imagine how it would go for someone who didn’t speak English and or had only recently arrived in America.

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My sister, Linda, had a very similar experience as her son was diagnosed with Amniotic Band Syndrome in the womb, where fibrous bands cut off his fingers and one leg.  She spent many weeks on bedrest as the doctors told her there was a slim chance he would even make it.  She gave birth to him prematurely and her son had to be flight-vac’d to the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital to save his life; and that is where he spent the first few months of his life.  After this harrowing experience, she dealt with the disability office and navigated how to get services for her son, while trying to recover at the same time.  She has spent countless hours dealing with red tape, doctors, and testing and understands how lonely the process can be. 

We are hoping this organization can help bridge the gap between diagnosis and treatment, as we can offer first-hand experience of the arduous process while providing community through shared experiences.  We are stronger together than we are separate and would like to provide a better future for our children than what we had.