“At the transition conference, there’s a youth strand, so your son can be with the young people, and they do a youth fair and they talk about what they want, they develop plans, they have specific things catered towards what their needs are. And then there’s an adult strand, so you can hear about what works. And there’s a couple of young men there that are…I’ve seen them speak a couple times. And they really, really speak to the youth and they say things like, ‘If you don’t speak up for yourself, nobody’s going to. You’re leaving your mom at home, you’re a grown up, you have to tell them, I need a ramp, I need this, I need a break every 5 minutes, this is my disability.’ You know, so they really stress to the kids to–you’ve got to be your own advocate, or you’re not going to get anywhere in the world. They don’t listen to us, but they’ll listen to them, because they’re funny. They respect them, I think. I’ve watched the kids in the room listen to them, and they really connect with the youth, so if you can get them to go with you, that’s good.”

Transition-age youth