First, I’d like to thank you for visiting this blog. This site will certainly be a work in progress as I learn more about how to build a proper website for my intended business.

While I do that, I am starting the process of compiling resources for the various stakeholders in the interest of supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I’ve done this work in varying capacities over the last decade, starting with a practicum course at the Northwest Indiana Special Education Center in Crown Point, Indiana as I attended Valparaiso University. After graduating in 2014, I started working as a paraprofessional at Trinity Services’ Special Education School before making my way to the Illinois Crisis Prevention Network in December of 2015.

I’ll expound on the specific details in future blog posts, but those earliest days of my career were foundational in my understanding of behavior often fearfully associated with people born with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. It inspired confidence in me that I could come to understand and ensure proper support for people whose brains confer to them unique challenges in an unforgiving world.

In 2018, I began my foray into the world of private ABA clinics. A little over a year later, I returned to SST with a new sense of appreciation for the work I was able to do, rather than what was expected of me in private clinics. That, and what I’ve learned about the ABA business since, has left me immensely wary of the business as a whole. This will be another major subject for me as there is an immense amount of nuance needed for these discussions.

I returned to SST in October 2019, and shortly afterward found myself a major disease vector in a global pandemic. While maintaining my caseload to the best of my ability in light of this, I also helped out with some “extracurriculars”:

-I lived with a stranger for 11 days, providing 24/7 1:1 supportive care in addition to hourly temperature checks. During those 11 days I had a total of 2 consecutive hours relieved of caretaking duties

-I helped to organize and arrange educational & enrichment materials in addition to donations for residents of the Elizabeth Ludeman Center at a time when their infection numbers were overwhelming. I was part of the group that delivered these items to the homes and yet did not see a single resident.

-I provided assistance during a vaccination drive for Illinois residents with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Over time, however, the stresses of the pandemic compounded with the stresses of addressing behavioral crises. I was burnt out and recognized that, despite my effort, I was more a hindrance than a help. In April of 2022, I left SST.

Since then, I was briefly manager of a day program, and most recently held a job helping families sign up for Medicaid waiver services before my mental health once again caught up with me and rendered me unable to complete my duties. After months of persevering through the sludge of depression, I was no longer given the option to keep pushing through. and was placed on involuntary medical leave before ultimately losing my job in December.

As it stands right now, I want to continue to put my experience and skill to use in service of people living with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Even during past bouts of depression, my ability to be present and engaged with these people has not wavered. This population is my passion. There is no other population one can find that will capture the full breadth of the human experience as this one does. Since discovering my spark for it I have never been able to sate my desire to learn more about the various conditions and experiences associated with the I/DD population. In addition to scientific studies, I have learned from the experiences of self-advocates, parents, siblings, professionals, and other stakeholders. I have found the information they’ve shared to be invaluable in conceptualizing and contextualizing the issues playing into behavioral crises. I’ve used that information to promote peace in households once characterized by flinching and holes in walls– a goal I never want to stop fighting for.

It is in that interest that I aim to provide photography services for this population. To show that peace is not only possible, but to also show the value in striving for it.