We believe in the power of sharing your story. This page features stories from FACT Oregon families from across the state.
It Takes a Village
By Courtney Hansen, Published in Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Blog My son with Down syndrome and his typically-developing twin brother just started kindergarten. The military also just moved us across country this past summer. There’s been a
Continue readingBrave
By Ashley Vrublevskiy He’s running. I’m chasing. The ocean is in view, and there is no stopping him. A few glances back reveal his enormous grin, his pure joy. High pitched squeals of delight escape his lungs. I have to
Continue readingCommunity Matters
By Cori Mielke Today, I have so many things on my mind. As a parent of children who experience disability I often think about what community means to our family. This afternoon, we decided to go have a little fun.
Continue readingInclusion Sounds Easy
By Julie Chick If you are like I was, when you hear ‘inclusion’ you may run an internal checklist and derive at something like, “Well that’s easy, we’ll all be nice and get along” or something close. Many of us may
Continue readingWhy Keep Trying?
By Roberta Dunn, Executive Director of FACT Oregon We’ve most likely all heard the saying if at first you don’t succeed, try, and try again, and maybe you’ve heard that it is ridiculous to try doing something the same way
Continue readingLearning to Dream Big Dreams for our Child
By Cori Mielke, FACT Oregon Program Coordinator I recently listened to a webinar that described the impact of the Endrew F. vs Douglas County School District case, which asked the Supreme Court to answer this question: must schools provide a meaningful
Continue readingWhat is a Safe Place?
By Caitlin Shockley, Director of Education and Community, FACT Oregon In January, National Public Radio (NPR) published a series of stories titled, “Abused and Afraid,” uncovering the devastating statistics of sexual abuse within the disability community. The series quotes that
Continue readingThe Outdoors Brings More Than Just Activity to our Lives
By Dianna Hansen, FACT Oregon Program Coordinator located in Bend, Oregon My husband and I grew up on the McKenzie River. It was 55 miles to the nearest grocery store. We didn’t have any type of skating rink, movie theater,
Continue reading“You do You” this Holiday Season!
By Nicole Silverman, FACT Oregon Program Coordinator Benjamin was my only child for 9 years. He was born via emergency C-section 7 weeks premature and diagnosed with moderate to severe heart disease. We were in the NICU for 11 weeks
Continue readingDream Big Dreams with FACT Oregon
By Tammy Miller, FACT Oregon Board Member Remember when you first held your baby? You felt so much love, crazy love and joy. You knew the world for you would always be changed because of this love. And, if your
Continue readingSupport FACT Oregon!
FACT Oregon needs your help to support all Oregon families who experience disability! There are 197 school districts in Oregon and over 88,000 children receiving special education services. With current funding, FACT Oregon is able to provide 75 special education
Continue readingThankful for my Club
By Elliott Dale Elliott Dale is a FACT Oregon Board Member who lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon and is a business attorney. He shared a version of these remarks at the 2017 FACT Oregon Annual Breakfast. At the heart of
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