Live Your Dream

You may have noticed (or not), I haven’t posted on here for a while. In April I posted Where Will This Journey Take Me? in which I explained that I had begun working with my sister on a new project.  And since then many things have changed.  I’ve gone from blogging to learning how to run a business.  I’ve continued my path of self-discovery and growth.  Because of this I am making more choices that are in line with where I want my life to go and who I want to be.

In September, my sister and I made the decision to move from blogging on Accessible ABA to creating a non profit (Accessible ABA, Inc.).  It is the mission of Accessible ABA, Inc. to help individuals with autism build skills that lead to independence in the community through access to ABA strategies and techniques. Training for parents, teachers and professionals allow children access to these strategies even when they are not in therapy.

We received our 501(c)3 status from the IRS this week which will open the door for us to begin taking donations, however we intend to run our non profit more like a for-profit business – creating products and providing services to help fund our charitable pursuits.

We have created our first online course on Udemy:  6 Steps to Reduce Problem Behavior for Children with Autism.  We have plans to improve on the course and self-host them.  For this purpose we have created the site Understanding Your Child with Autism (there’s not much on this site yet but eventually this will have online courses and a membership option)…but it’s worth checking out so you can see a picture of me with my sister).

We have partnered with a local non-profit whose mission is in line with ours.  It is the Autism Awareness Shop.  The owner, Jen, has an adult son with autism and is an amazing human being.  She runs a thrift shop in Tampa that employs individuals with autism.  Her mission is to provide vocational training to these individuals to increase employment opportunities for them.  You can support her even if you’re not local.  She sells many products online and all the orders are fulfilled by individuals with autism.  She has wonderful ideas on how to expand her offerings and enable us to contribute to her mission.

Together we’ve started a Facebook Subscription Group (and learned the hard way that Facebook still has a long way to go with this service).  We are planning a separate membership site to replace or augment the Facebook group.  We have registered the domain Including Autism (includingautism.org) for this, although this site isn’t live yet.

I continue to post on the Word of the Day Challenge three times a week and I try to read all of the posts that link to the words I post.  I have put Best Life Collaborative on hold, although my fried Jay-lyn has continued to post and support that mission.  I produce a weekly newsletter for Accessible ABA and expect that at some point we will have a monthly newsletter for Including Autism.

With all of this I’m still working full time (we aren’t really making money yet so that won’t be changing in the near future).  I still have 2 teenage girls who need my time and I continue to make my friendships a priority.  I’m still fostering and just dropped of a litter of 4 kittens.  So I’ve put my fiction writing, and this blog, on hold.  I try to keep up with reading at least a few of the blogs I’ve followed, although I had to scale back to very few.

I miss my friends here and the connections I’ve made.  I haven’t forgotten any of you and the support you’ve given me over the 18 months I’ve had this blog up.  I’m just following new goals and seeing where they take me.