Take a Chance . . .

March 4, 2019

   In 2012, I was being treated for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and I attended a Showboaters class at the College of Adaptive Arts. Pam Lindsay was leading the class and lesson was that I learned in a college theatre class. I walk out of class with my mom and younger sister (who was the student in the class) impressed with the respect given, the terms that were not dumbed down and the joy that the students exhibited. I knew my sister Denae was enjoying her education opportunity, she was trying new things and learning and I saw my happy go lucky sister blossom.


Then in October, I was able to attend the Abilities Expo where Denae was performing with the puppet troupe and again I was impressed. This time I reached out to DeAnna Pursai and said I love photography, love writing, let me know if I could come and work or teach classes. It wasn’t until January 2013 that I started as an Associate Professor.


At the end of Spring, I was riding with DeAnna in her car when I mentioned that I was a cancer survivor and that one thing that helped me through my journey was poetry. I thought maybe we could have a poetry class. DeAnna and Pam liked the idea and that summer I was teaching about Haikus, Villanelles, and Sonnets to 6 students. Out of 6 of the students, I had one who said they knew what poetry was and liked poetry. After this class, one of the parents approached me and said I helped their student feel smart for the first time. My heart broke because this young man had gone his entire life not feeling smart.


We continued Poetry class, then there was Sign Language, and Reading Partners, and Grad Writing, Business Writing, Storytelling, Writing Lab, Spanish, Speaking with Confidence. Pam and DeAnna approached me and asked about a communications department.


Every new student that takes a Communication Class, the parent always says the same thing. My student cannot read or write, or I don’t even know if they like this subject but I want them to take an academic class, and this one fits in their schedule. I am always surprised by those students who take a chance on a new class; those students end up enjoying their class. They remember characters, they embrace poetry and love reading. The wonderful thing about Communications classes we create spaces where the real world and fictional world coexist. Students can relate to characters from novels, and this helps them overcome their struggles. The act of writing becomes a cyclone that helps Students with things in the past and they get stronger. They thrive all because they took a chance.


Keep Writing, Keep Smiling, and Keep Learning.

Danie Weaver

Director of School of Communications.

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldn't Find. Story #3: ED Nicole & her son Said

By Nicole Kim • March 9, 2026
When my son, Saïd, was born, we discovered he had Down syndrome. I was 21 years old at the time, and I hadn’t done prenatal testing because it was considered a “low-risk” pregnancy. Suddenly I found myself sitting in doctors’ offices and hearing professionals describe what they believed his future would look like. “He may never learn to read.” “His learning will likely plateau around age four.” “It’s unlikely he will live an independent life.” Those are frightening things to say to a young mother. Thankfully, I didn’t believe them. Instead, I chose to raise my son with the expectation that he would learn , would grow , and would live as full a life as he was capable of living . And he did. When the College of Adaptive Arts started in 2009, Saïd was 19—just the right age for college. We became part of the CAA community and never left. He took classes, performed in the community, and truly blossomed as a young man. Along the way he discovered that he loves theater. He also loves to sing. Don’t give him a microphone—you may never get it back. 🙂 Today, at 35 years old, Saïd lives with a roommate and a caregiving couple. He has a vibrant, joyful, independent life. And he still loves taking classes every semester. My own journey with CAA has been equally meaningful. For most of those years, I was a parent in the community. I soon joined the Board and became a professor. I taught classes like Speaking with Confidence and Joy of Baking , and eventually stepped into the role of Executive Director. But the belief that first guided me as a young mother has never changed. The belief I had in Saïd’s ability to learn, grow, and build a meaningful life is the same belief I hold for every student who walks through the doors of the College of Adaptive Arts. And something remarkable happens when you lead with that belief. Students rise to meet it. When we expect growth, they grow. When we expect contribution, they contribute. When we expect full lives, they build them. At CAA, we don’t define our students by limitations. We define them by possibility. And every semester, they remind us that possibility is far greater than anyone once imagined. -- Nicole Kim Executive Director College of Adaptive Arts

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldn't Find. CAA Story #2: Dr. Pamela Lindsay

By DeAnna Pursai • March 2, 2026
The Ties That Bind

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins: We Built the College We Couldn't Find. CAA Story #1: Angel E.

By DeAnna Pursai • February 23, 2026
College of Adaptive Arts is beginning a new weekly blog series featuring a story of a CAA student, professor, or parent/care provider each week. We hope you enjoy and can resonate with these stories. If you could comment and share with your networks to amplify this model, we'd be deeply obliged to you: Angel Ellenberger, sister to CAA Co-Founder DeAnna Ellenberger Pursai, grew up in Bluffton, Indiana alongside DeAnna in the 70's and 80's. It was a glorious childhood, full of love, joy, laughter, and sisterhood bonding. Angel was always quite social, and she was a hit wherever she went with the cheerleaders and the community. DeAnna came home from college one summer when Angel was in a postsecondary program (mandatory 18-22 extended years for students in the special education system). At the time, Angel was actively working with a job coach cleaning the desks at the local high school. DeAnna thought to herself, "Cool! That’s what happens to adults when the special ed students leave the school system." About one year to the date, DeAnna came back home to find Angel more than doubled her size and eating a bag of chips on the couch. She asked what had happened, and their mom said that the funding was cut for the job coach program and that Angel didn’t want to attend the one adult day program shared across their 2 rural counties – the only feeder option once you left the special education system. Angel did indeed end up going to the day program after she gained so much weight that she had congestive heart failure in 2000 and almost passed away. Needless to say, it’s been an arduous and tenuous endeavor. Angel is intelligent, perceptive, social, artistic, creative, and comedic. She needed a support system with more opportunities to socialize, learn, engage beyond coloring in local dime store coloring books for hours. That critical gap that Angel experienced sparked the seed of change, and together with her partner and friend Dr. Pamela Lindsay, College of Adaptive Arts was born. DeAnna and Dr. Pam built the college model they couldn’t find and so many around the world also could not find. To those people searching, CAA's message is, "We hear you, we see you, and we’re coming." CAA will not stop until it has garnered the support, awareness, and public and private levers to scale this lifelong collegiate model worldwide to become as widespread, welcoming, and accessible in the education space that Special Olympics provides so robustly in the sports and athletics space. CAA's revolutionary model is proving everyday that inclusive education is not charity; it is sustainable, transformative and a lifelong right.

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