{"id":16857,"date":"2019-11-08T17:51:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T21:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/?p=16857"},"modified":"2019-11-13T12:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T16:52:00","slug":"evan_bertrand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/2019\/11\/08\/evan_bertrand\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Evan to “become the man he was meant to be”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In\u00a0<\/em>What Matters<\/a>, the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council <\/a>shares the stories of nine people across the state with disabilities who work and have meaningful days in their communities.\u00a0Evan Bertrand<\/strong>, an AACPS Graduate and employee, and his family shared Evan’s own story of being supported by the school system\u00a0for the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since the original publication of this story in June of 2019, Evan has\u00a0begun to pursue a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance at the Washington Adventist University. Evan and his family are thrilled\u00a0to see Evan be able to study his passion and recognize this opportunity as proof of what can be accomplished with the proper support. Evan continues to work part time at\u00a0the Point Pleasant Resource Center with the team he loves.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \"\"<\/span>

\"Even

(c) Photo by Jennifer Bishop & the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Evan is an AACPS:<\/strong>\u00a0Alum | Employee, Point Pleasant Resource Center<\/em><\/h3>\n

When Evan was diagnosed with autism as a toddler in 1995, his mother, Andrea, recalls his doctor\u2019s grim words: \u201cGo home and mourn the loss of a normal child.\u201d Fortunately, Andrea then met the director of her local Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) early intervention program, who offered another memorable piece of advice: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to invent Evan\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward 20 years full of creative and supportive teachers and therapists, and \u201cEvan has become the man he was meant to be,\u201d says Andrea. \u201cHe\u2019s smart, funny, talented, and a hard worker.\u201d He still has a significant disability \u2013 a language-processing disorder that makes verbal communication difficult \u2013 but thanks to assistance from his job coach and a personal support aide, he is enjoying a full life.<\/p>\n

Evan works 32 hours a week at the AACPS early intervention resource center. He delivers mail, does data entry on the computer, and several times a day takes a break to play classical music on the piano in the lobby, entertaining himself and others. Music is Evan\u2019s passion, and he is studying music composition at Anne Arundel Community College, where he also performs with a brass ensemble.<\/p>\n

Evan’s job coach accompanies him to his job, and his personal support aide helps him at school. “I’m very excited to have this job where people rely on me,” Evan notes. “I want to do a great job more than anything.”<\/p>\n

Read Evan’s full story<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As shared on their website, the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council<\/a>\u00a0is an independent, self-governing organization dedicated to advancing the inclusion of Marylanders with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life.\u00a0 The Council works in partnership with people with developmental disabilities and their families, as well as other individuals and organizations, to bring about lasting change.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0www.md-council.org<\/a> for more information and resources from the Council to promote\u00a0empowerment, opportunity, and inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0*Excerpt reprinted with permission from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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When Evan was diagnosed with autism as a toddler in 1995, his mother, Andrea, recalls his doctor\u2019s grim words: \u201cGo home and mourn the loss of a normal child.\u201d Fortunately, Andrea then met the director of her local Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) early intervention program, who offered another memorable piece of advice: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to invent Evan\u2019s future.\u201d–Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001013,"featured_media":16860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[301,145,130,131,132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-millersvillees","category-old_mill_stories","category-aacps_story","category-alumni_stories","category-employee_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16857"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16891,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857\/revisions\/16891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}