Annual Report - National Ability Center

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Finding security and confidence in a new reality.
A ‘new reality’ is how Chelsea, Cali, and dad, Casey, describe their world after Cali’s diagnosis
of autism. This is, in fact, how many participants and families who participate in programs and
activities offered at the National Ability Center describe their lives.
Read Chelsea’s blog -- wheredidthebirdgo.com -- and you will notice it does not use the words
‘different’, ‘troubled’ or ‘disabled’. Instead, she describes Cali as “a little girl who loves to love
and be who she was always supposed to be.” Chelsea adds: “And yes, she has autism … and this
is a great thing.”
The National Ability Center is not responsible for Chelsea, Cali or Casey’s positive life viewpoints; that is all their
own. We do, however, provide them with tools to encourage their goals of healing and achievement.
The caring and dedicated staff and volunteers at the National Ability Center focus on the empowerment of others
by utilizing sport, recreation and education programs to build self-esteem, confidence and lifetime skills. This can
be as simple as having an adaptive athlete or staff member talk with a newly injured teenager about what to expect
and how to begin this journey to a new reality. It can be as complex as participating for years in our sports
programs to build the physical strength necessary to bike ride ten miles with a grandchild. Or, it can be as
innovative as a veteran diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder working with horses to find a greater
understanding of key communication skills and triggers that will help ease the stress of relating with family
members at home.
“A year and a half has
passed since the diagnosis
and I find myself
more secure and confident
with this new reality.”
Chelsea, parent of four-year-old, Cali,
enrolled in the Hippotherapy program
Gail Loveland
Gail Loveland takes to the slopes at the
2012 Halti Ability Snow Challenge.
We are grateful to each of you for providing resources and wisdom to help us achieve our vision to inspire
individual achievement and create a global impact for people of all abilities. Thanks to your support, our
programs continued to expand this past year. We reached families from 47 states across the country and shared
our expertise with nine international programs.
Your help is paramount in allowing the National Ability Center to continue to achieve these levels of growth,
operating each day as a recreation center for families, an education center for partners, a training center for
athletes and a center of new possibilities for everyone. Just like Cali, this is who we were always supposed to be.