Quite a few years ago I had contact with Patti Herbst when she started up the Conductive Education Center in Illinois with her husband, Chuck.. She had a son, Justin, with cerebral palsy and discovered Conductive Education which she was determined he would have. She wanted ‘independence for Justin’ and wrote about his journey in Intelligent Love, published by Conductive Education Press.
http://e-conduction.org/CEP/publications/intelligent-love/
Since then the center has gone from strength to strength and so has Justin. He attended Southern Illinois University and after graduating found employment with UPS (United Parcel Services).
Yesterday I received the latest ACENA Newsletter which reported on the US Senate Committee hearing on Fufilling the Promise: Overcoming Persistent Barriers to Economic Self-sufficiency for People with Disabilities.
http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=ff4d0969-5056-a032-521b-a692be939084&autoplay=true
This hearing took place on September 2014, and Justin gave evidence along with several others. His presentation can be downloaded as a pdf and watched on the video.
Justin’s achievements are a fantastic example of what Conductive Education can do to transform lives and enable those with cerebral palsy to achieve their potential. His hard work has paid off and he is now willing to stand up for others and put the case to the US government to update its disability policies, for the Government to make sure that true independence can become a reality.
Patti and Chuck, enormously proud of their son, are still working hard to make Conductive Education better known, and practised in the US.
Nice one!