296. Together We Can Make a Difference: Building Inclusive Communities for Special Needs with Kate Chaney

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This is happiness solved with America's happiness coach, Sandee Sgarlata.

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Hello and thank you for joining us today. I'm so happy you're here. Happiness Solved is the place where we explore everything you need to become the best possible version of you. This is Sandee Sgarlata, and today I've got some exciting news for our dedicated listeners. We've just launched our exclusive members only portal.

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Hello, Kate. Such a pleasure to have you here today. How's everything going for you this week? Are things going great? I'm very blessed with my two new jobs starting this week and just been very blessed about being here, know, being with you guys because I get to get my story out there.

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So thank you for having me. So for the audience, Kate owns a nonprofit titled Inspirational Experiences. And what she does is she hosts sensory friendly events year round for the special needs community. And I'm going to let you tell your story. So tell us your story.

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Know from the time you were born and then some of the struggles that you went through over the years. Okay. Hi, guys. My name is Kate change. Some of the struggles that I went through throughout my whole life is being diagnosed as legally blind.

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Didn't find out until I was about five years old. Went through patching drops, surgeries, ot therapy, and a chance at normal life. 13. Diagnosed with high functioning Asperger's, which means I struggled with multiple subjections, making friends, keeping my grades up, keeping jobs, just a lot of things that are stressful throughout my whole life. However, I found a way to overcome it, and I'm kind of chugging along right now.

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Diagnosed at 23 with seizures caused by anxiety, hormonal changes, and low blood sugar. And then 30. I was recently diagnosed with lupus, and I've been on my journey for two years, and I am striving. That's fantastic. That's fantastic.

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So I love this. Your slogan is that together we can make a difference in the special needs community. What prompted you? What was the underlying thing that said, you know what, I have to do this. I have to get my story out there and have a platform for other people.

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Yeah. So being through what I've went through my whole life, I wanted a place to fit in and I want to feel accepted and loved and just inspired for who I truly was. And I didn't have that my whole life. My parents raised me until I was about 23. I moved out with my then boyfriend, now husband, Kate Chaney.

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And I wasn't getting the services I needed. I wasn't in speech ot PT. I just didn't have all these services that I truly needed to be successful. And with that, I have been able to be successful now because together I say me and my husband, together we make a difference in that special needs community because we started that inspirational experiences platform. And together I've inspired other families who are either just starting on their journey and don't know where to go or b, they've been stuck for quite a while and they have no idea where to go and they need my help.

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So that's where I came in. I love it. That is so needed. And I don't think a lot of people really understand the enormity of that type of situation unless you're affected by it personally. Right.

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So what are some of the things that families struggle with when they either have a child that's born special needs? Yeah. What are some of the things that people struggle with? Absolutely. So some of the things that the family struggle with is finding the proper resources, which means getting into the multi assistance center at the Mac Morgan's wonderland, where all of our medical needs are under one roof, where they don't have to go to different doctors offices and specialists.

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It's all under one roof for us to make our lives a little bit easier and less chaotic. So finding resources and finding events to fit in where there's no lines, we can dim the lights, there's no DJ blasting music, there's none of that. It's just a quiet, easy run environment where they can learn, they can do crafts, play games, have cookie decorating, photos, just a place to hang out and feel that they're loved and that they're accepted. Oh, my gosh. Because at the end of the day, that's what every human being wants.

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Right. We all want to feel love, and we all want to feel that we're accepted. So thank you so much for the. Work that you're doing. Absolutely.

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Yeah. So today you're highly functioning. We need all the help that we can get. Of course. Like, you just started your two jobs and everything.

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So what are some of the assistance that you need today that you're not able to get? Some of the assistance that we need today that we're not able to get is a funding. We really need help with being able to buy supplies that we need. We've had multiple Amazon links put out there trying to get supplies in time for our event. We're less than seven weeks out right now and we don't have supplies.

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It's really hard when you try to do something on your own and you don't have the community support like you thought you would and trying to get those supplies. And right now we need donations, we need volunteers, ambassadors, really everything and anything. Wow. So what is the event that's coming up that you said is coming up that you need support with? Can you just talk a little bit about that?

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Of course. So the event that we have coming up that I need support with is called sense of Easter Bunny. It's going to be on March 23 at St. Matthew's UMC Church in San Antonio. It's from eleven to two.

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We're going to have cookie decorating, century bins, games, field games, characters, face painting, balloon twisting, food trucks, resource vendors, you name it. It's going to be great. So come on out and join us and have a great time. Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. It sounds amazing.

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And I know a few people that live in that area. So after I'm done, I'm going to reach out to them and see if they can provide you with any sort of support as well. So that would be great. So walk me through how. Yeah, absolutely.

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It's going to be an amazing time. Yeah. So when somebody with special needs comes to an event like this, how does that help them in the long run, especially with their stress, anxiety and their. Mental health inspirational experiences. That way if a stranger was to come off up the street and say, hey, I know your mom, come know, come hang out with me.

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No, we don't let that happen. We make sure that we have security. I try to get safety officers that I know from San Antonio, Ed. I try to get people out to make sure that we're safe in that environment where they can feel like no matter what happens, they're always going to be safe at every measure and they can learn and be happy and just have a great time where they don't have to worry about being judged or bullied or picked on or any of that stuff. Oh my gosh.

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How often does that happen? I mean, realistically? Because again, I know I was bullied as a child. How often are children with special needs actually bullied? Is it a frequent thing?

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Does it happen more often than we really talk about? It's very frequently and throughout my whole life I wanted that. Back in high school, I was bullied by ably on a school bus. I was coming back from May Bosi's program, which is a vocational rehab. And I had a CD player with my headphones on because I don't like to bother other people.

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So I was just listening to music playing on my phone. And he came up and started beating me with the school bus seatbelt. And by the time on my way back from that, I had to have my doctor called, my dad called, the bus driver had to pull over and call the school, write an incident report. I came back with a broken job, blood over my face. It was terrible.

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And coming out of that, I want everyone to know that with us at these events that they're safe and they don't have to worry about that because I will never let them get hurt. I will never let that happen. Ever. Oh, my gosh. And you have to wonder what type of person is even capable of doing.

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Such a thing, right? It's just astounding to me. And I'm so sorry to hear that you had to experience that. Yeah. What is some advice that you can offer that families who are maybe listening, that have children with special needs?

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What advice can you give to help them right away so that that may ease some of the things that they're going through right now? Welcome to the journey. If you're just starting, it's a tough place to be. But in the end, you're going to find where you belong, where you fit in, and you're going to find those resources to make it easier. And if I can be that stop that you need resources from, you need to just vent.

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You need to have a moment away. Just call me, text me, email me at Kate@inspirationalexperiences.org you can call our phone number, 830-402-6684 and know that you're never alone. And together we will make this difference. I love that. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with the audience before we finish up today?

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No, not really. I think I hit everything. Stay tuned to our Facebook page. Inspirational experiences. We host century know posts and inspiration and things like that on our page every day.

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So tune in, follow, and like us and together we grow. Oh, I love it. Kate, thank you again for everything that you're doing. And I just support you wholeheartedly and I wish you the best of success, especially with your upcoming event. Thank you so much, Sandy, thank you for having me.

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Absolutely. And of course, thank you.

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