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Local Conference Strives For Inclusiveness

REDMOND, OR -- People with disabilities, their families, teachers and service providers gather at the Expo Center in Redmond, Tuesday, for the third annual Breaking Barriers Conference: Live Beyond Labels. Central Oregon Disability Support Network Executive Director Dianna Hansen says the goal is to work toward a “life without labels," although she admits a label – or diagnosis – can be helpful for families, at first. "It gives us a ticket to services within the education system, the medical system, those kinds of things. But, what we really like to focus families on are – the kids, and everyone, we all have strengths and weaknesses. So, really setting that diagnoses aside, once you have those services, and focusing on all of the assets and strengths and abilities that our kids have."

 

One of the keynote speakers is Sue Swenson, the Assistant Secretary for Special Education under President Obama and the mother of a disabled adult. "She’s going to be here to just share with families, both from a parent perspective as well as an educational, professional type perspective. Everything from advocacy and how and why that matters, especially right now, with changing tides," Hansen tells KBND News. She says she's has heard from local families concerned about talk of doing away with - or changing - the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides protections for special needs students.


The goal of the conference is to help families, teachers and caregivers work toward a community where labels aren’t necessary. Hansen says the other speaker, Cristina Sanz, is the perfect example of that concept. "Cristina is a young woman who is on the A&E show “Born This Way.” It’s a show about individuals with disabilities, specifically Downs Syndrome, who live independently. Cristina’s amazing. She’s engaged to be married, this coming summer; she’s a ballroom dancer, an actress. She works, in addition to being the actress. She’s really an amazing young woman; so she and her mother are both going to be here." Hansen says the overall goal is to create a fully inclusive community.
 

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