Diversity Fellow Project, Melina Cavazos
A Purposeful Life: Perceptions of family members on effective components of a person-centered family training series
A Purposeful Life: Perceptions of family members on effective components of a person-centered family (222 K) Download
Project Narrative
1. Please describe your activities during your Fellowship experience. Describe your final capstone project(s).
During my Fellowship experience, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Megan Orsag from the Center on Disability and Development (CDD) at Texas A&M University to complete my capstone project through creating and leading a sibling supplement for the “A Purposeful Life” program. Through the collaborative efforts of the CDD, surrounding school districts, and various local agencies, the “A Purposeful Life” program provides free monthly trainings to establish a meaningful dialogue between individuals with disabilities and their families within the community. The overarching goal of this program is to encourage advocacy skills using person-centered planning to promote capacity building and active involvement in future postsecondary education and/or employment decisions. The sibling supplement of this program was designed to create opportunities for siblings of individuals with disabilities to build relationships with other siblings in a relaxed, recreational setting as well as to learn from each other through sharing their own experiences as a sibling of an individual with disabilities. Sibling sessions were based on various themes (i.e., “Similarities and Differences among Siblings,” “Experiences and Emotions,” “Working Together and Supporting Each Other,” “Evaluating the Sibling Relationship and Future Goals”) and incorporated activities from the book “SibShops” by David Meyer and Patricia Vadasy.
2. Who did your project inform, help, influence or impact? (UCEDD, individual, community, state) How?
The capstone project was aimed towards creating a positive and lasting systemic change in the surrounding communities of College Station and Bryan, Texas. As part of this experience, I designed sessions to help facilitate meaningful dialogue between siblings of individuals with disabilities from these communities. Upon reflection of qualitative survey data, it was clear that sibling attendees had been positively impacted from attending sessions. Some examples of sibling feedback included enjoying the sessions (e.g., “I compared with people who had similar experiences to me,” “I like this cause it was fun,” “It felt good to know there are people going through what I’m going”) and learning from the sessions (e.g., “I’m not alone,” “How others live with there siblings,” “There are more people with siblings who have disorders than I thought”).
3. Why did you choose to work on that project(s)?
A major reason why I chose to work on this project is because, as a sibling myself of a younger brother with autism, I understand the difficulties that come with being a sibling of an individual with disabilities and wanted to serve as a source of support. I also chose to work on this project to gain additional experiences in working with families of and individuals with disabilities to develop skills that will be beneficial in my practice as a future school psychologist.
4. What did you gain from being a Diversity Fellow?
I have gained so much from this experience as a Diversity Fellow! First, I have gained a supportive network within my university through personnel from the Center on Disability and Development and through other Diversity Fellows who also have a strong interest in serving those with disabilities. Through completing my capstone project, I have not only gained leadership experiences in working with siblings of individuals with disabilities through “A Purposeful Life,” but have also shared in the learning experience as a sibling myself, which is invaluable to me!
5. How will this experience impact your education or career decisions?
Being a Diversity Fellow has solidified my future goal of becoming a program director of a transition program for students with disabilities at the university level. Through this experience I gained a much clearer understanding of the needed supports to meet the needs of individuals with all kinds of disabilities, as well as effective supports that can be available in a university setting. I have also gained a deeper understanding of the importance of working with not only the individuals with disabilities, but also their families, and establishing a systemic change through interagency collaboration efforts. I will use what I have learned from this model and incorporate it into my future career decisions as a program director for transition services.
6. What are your future goals? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
When I graduate in about three years, I will pursue a career as a practicing school psychologist either through a primary or secondary school setting or through a community center setting. After I have gained experience in these areas, I hope to pursue a career as a program director of transition services for individuals with disabilities at a university level.
A future goal of mine is to work with the State Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education to keep the conversation going about disability awareness. I want to implant policies and standards that continues to ensure services to children and adults with disabilities throughout education and in the workplace. Five years from now, I will be a tenure-track professor and certified ADA advocate who contributes to a larger social cause by working with different agencies to protect the civils rights and functionality of persons with disabilities.
7. What recommendations do you have for other Fellows?
Recommendations I would suggest to future Fellows are to keep an open mind when completing your capstone project. Although my capstone project was not my initial choice, the experiences I had in completing the project were so invaluable to me and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything! Additionally, I would suggest to be as active as possible within the year that you are a Diversity Fellow, and to gain as much experience as you possibly can.