A year ago, I finished the paperwork to shut down Celebrating Special Children, including the website. After 17 years of being in business, including 15 years as a non-profit, it was very ….. disheartening. But things happen for a reason, right?

I’ve spent the past year working here in Virginia Beach at my regular job as a substitute teacher. I’ve gotten involved in local politics; mostly as an canvassing driver, envelope stuffer and poll worker. I’m particularly interested in voter registration and voter suppression issues. Additionally, I joined the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities and am very much enjoying that diverse group.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about ways to give new life to the work of Celebrating Special Children. First on the list was to find a new name…. hence Celebrating All Abilities became the new name on the Facebook page and I designed a new logo image. The next step was to create a new website with the new name. So I bought the domain address and taught myself–with invaluable help from my son, Conor– to use WordPress to populate the site with the information I had saved from the previous site. I think the site is user-friendly and easy to navigate, but I’m still working on ways to make it more visually interesting. The WordPress staff has been keeping in touch with me to make sure I have everything I need.

So what stays the same as before? I’ll still be posting and reposting to the facebook page and website; I’ll continue to put out a newsletter roughly every quarter and send a notification to the listserve. I will still update the list of resources each year. If you would like to be added to the email list, you can message me through the Facebook page, or contact me at celebratingallabilities@gmail.com.

And what will be different? Most importantly, I’m not looking to make this site into an income-producing business. That is to say, I will not be asking for money– in the form of advertising, sponsorships, donations, or anything else.

Celebrating All Abilities will be just me, my computer and our
community of folks who care for and about people of all abilities. See you in December!

Laura