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

Those in our community are often asked about their “story” of a child’s diagnosis of a disability, the re-calibration that follows, and the impacts on family life. How do we begin to piece it together when every family member could write their own book, which is indeed their own story to tell? My own approach is to share plot points where our family has pulled together instead of apart, and where we have created the strong kinds of ties that bind. Through our shared experiences we’ve developed a lasting love for flying our own flags and finding success on our own terms. 

One such plot point occurred when my daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age nine. We were led to a school program offering unique curricula for learners with special learning needs; this was a revelation after years of IEPs trying to adapt square peg learning to round holes of school credit requirements. Related challenges whittled away at the edges of her love of learning and extinguished her light when both were crucial to her success. Permission to identify personal goals and build learning tools and activities around them made good sense and a massive difference. As anxiety levels came down, so did the walls to concept learning previously blocking forward academic momentum.  This freedom of exploration on her terms and leverage of the arts-which she loved-provided keys that unlocked the rest of her lifelong learning journey. Today she is the proud holder of an associate of arts degree from Columbia College and is preparing to publish her first in a series of children’s books. 

I discovered the same academic approaches transferred to special needs curriculum consulting with other families, completion of my master’s thesis, instruction of students at San Jose State, and (with the light and love of learning still intact) to completion of an individualized doctoral program. And can you guess the full-circle outcome? You’re right! Research and development in the arts, higher education, and the kind of next-step college conservatory program I’d visualized all those years ago while praying my high school daughter would continue to find her perfect fit. A place where adults of all learning needs can experience joy-filled academic development on their own terms, at their own pace, with their own goals in mind. All while increasing their love of learning and turning up the wattage on their beautiful inner spotlights that illuminate the next steps toward their personal goals and dreams. 

Along the way, our family forged a shared and fierce commitment to unique life and learning journeys. We’ve discovered it creates those strong ties that continually bind us through thick and thin. Since many lights shine brighter than one, we can mutually illuminate and support each other’s individual paths, dreams, experiences, and continued learning in many forms toward achieving and celebrating personal goals on our own terms. This has directly and joyously transferred to a motto for our CAA family as well, proclaiming “When Cardinals support each other, everybody flies!”