To Be Like Me is a disability awareness program to break down barriers and foster compassion. Through our program, we want to foster a community of inclusion and demonstrate how the simple act of asking questions allows our participants to move from seeing a disability to seeing a person.

Our Leaders are individuals who are living with a disability or difference. Nine different areas are addressed: Autism/Sensory Processing, Anxiety, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Dietary Differences, Speech/Communication Challenges, Chromosome Differences, Mobility Impairments, Vision Impairments, and Learning Differences.

The two hour program involves 4 real life, interactive experiences that will be led by our Leaders: a classroom, an airline, a restaurant, and a bedroom. There is also an area for participants to see and use some of the technology that is currently available to those with a disability or difference. The interactions between participants and Leaders, combined with the experiences in our program will focus on awareness of different abilities. Participants will leave our program with a better understanding and appreciation for the unique abilities of others.
For students, To Be Like Me also incorporates disability awareness curriculum before, during, and after the program to increase the impact of our message. We will measure our impact with pre- and post- empathy scores. Our program currently focuses on children aged 9-12 and launches to our local school district in Dallas this year. Plans are to extend our reach and spread our Leaders' voices into multiple school districts, including Plano area schools, for the 2020-21 Academic Calendar Year.