What's Next? brochures

The Center for an Accessible Society operates What’s Next?, a mentoring program matching high school students with physical disabilities with adults with similar disabilities who are living active, successful lives in San Diego.
Most young people with physical disabilities and their families have never met an adult with a disability similar to theirs, especially successful adults who have gone to college, are working and participating in community life. What’s Next? matches mentees and mentors to share experiences, gain access to helpful resources, develop social skills, and see the possibility of a productive and rewarding future. We teach personal responsibility by showing mentees how to use public transportation, to give back to the community through volunteering, to experience living on a college campus in the summer and to advocate for themselves to achieve their goals.
What’s Next? runs on a two-year cycle, during which we have approximately 16-18 mentee/ mentor pairs. Mentors often stay with the program after their mentees have graduated, and mentees frequently stay in touch after leaving the program, and they are now establishing an alumni program. We hope that eventually they will return to the program as mentors. We began five years ago with 7 mentee/mentor pairs, and have since had over 50 pairs.
In developing this program, the Center for an Accessible Society created recruiting brochures (using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator) for mentees and mentors. Unfortunately, there is no central place to recruit either mentees or mentors. We have distributed over 10,000 brochures at locations where people with disabilities often go – such as doctor’s offices, organizations, facilities that sell and repair wheelchairs, walkers and lift-equipped vans and to over 30 local high schools and talk with teachers who help identify potential mentees. But the most successful use of the brochures has been in personal contacts. Staff members, all of whom also have a physical disability, carry brochures as we go about our daily lives. As a result of approaching potential mentors and mentees at shopping malls, baseball games, restaurants and other public places, we have recruited over 30 participants, particularly mentors, in our program. In this way, we have recruited lawyers, accountants, teachers, engineers, artists, journalists and technology specialists – all with physical disabilities, all who work, have graduated from college and live independently.
What’s Next? has had a profound impact on our mentees, their parents and the community at large. Many of our mentors say they wished there was a program like this when they were young. Almost all of our mentees are now in college and well on their way to a career of their choice.
Here’s what our Mentees say:
“I overcame the fear of going to college.”
“I learned how to advocate for myself.”
“Now my fear of leaving home is less.”
“This experience showed me what I’m really in for.”
“I tried dancing in my chair for the first time.”
“I can talk about things I wouldn’t be able to talk about with my able-bodied friends.”