I have the honor and privilege of being a mom to two amazing kids - both with some sort of special need. This means that I get to use all of my skills and experiences to advocate for them every day. I'm that person who's asking if the new playground will have accommodations, sitting in on IEP meetings, and organizing events to expand resources to families. And I'm not done yet!
When my son was 2.5 years old, he was diagnosed as Autistic…during a pandemic! Consequently, we searched high and low for whatever services we could find to help facilitate his personal growth and development. As the world started to come out of the pandemic, we continued our search for opportunities for him to grow and thrive just like his neurologically-typical peers. However, we quickly recognized that not many activities were prepared or trained for participants that were ‘non-typical’ students.
After months of frustration, endless emails, and countless phone calls, I knew something needed to be done - we certainly were not the only family in this situation. However, instead of getting mad, I decided to take action - I decided to create the opportunities for personal growth and development ourselves; no more waiting around, just taking action. I knew that I could combine my talents for show production, event planning, logistics, and pageantry, and do something truly great when it came to special needs advocacy. Once my daughter was born in November 2022 and we realized that she would also have serious needs, more fuel was thrown on my fire and I decided that this was absolutely something that I needed to seriously pursue and share with others.
In addition to creating my own events and programs, I am constantly looking for opportunities to work with organizations and individuals alike to help them become more "needs aware". If you're interested in working together, learning more about various needs and how your organization can address them, or organizing an event in your area, please email me: Victory@VictoryRam.biz
Here's a quick rundown of my events resume/experience. This is not a complete list, but just some of the highlights:
Founder: The Better Together Inclusion and Acceptance Fashion and Talent Show (www.BetterTogetherShow.org)
Host: The IEP/Special Education Resource Fair (various elementary schools)
Host: Friends of All Abilities Karate Class
Graduate:
The Arc Maryland's Partners in Policymaking 2022 class
Partners in Policymaking®! is Maryland’s year-long program that prepares adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), parents, and family members of children and adults with IDD to be effective advocates at the local, state, and federal levels. Learn more HERE.
Perkins School for the Blind, CVI Parent Institute, Summer 2023
