Sabra’s Transition to the “Working World”

Our twenty seven-year-old daughter, Sabra, was born with cerebral palsy quadriplegia. We will not talk about her disability but rather share the behind-the-scenes planning and guiding that we all did for her future.

While in junior high, Sabra had no clue,what her future would hold, after high school graduation. And yes, along with other students with special needs, she had a counselor working with her.

One thing for sure, Sabra did not want a job of answering phones or being a “go-fer.” During the first semester in her senior year, Sabra’s counselor arranged for her to spend one hour a day at Washington Elementary School—a few blocks away from her high school, (Auburn High School). Sabra was to help first graders who were behind in reading and bring them up to their class level. Sabra’s efforts brought such positive results for the children that for the second semester of school, she spent two hours a day at Washington.

Ever since Sabra was an infant, others have been helping and doing things for her, but working with these children gave her a chance to help someone else in need, to feel proud, and be recognized as one of the “givers.” Children are curious, want attention and love, will ask lots of questions, and want simple answers. Sabra gave them all of this and they loved it!

At the dinner table Sabra would share with us how her day was at the “job.” At the end of the semester, the first grade teacher wrote a full page of remarks raving about Sabra’s achievements working with the children. You should have seen Sabra beaming from ear to ear!

It was also at this time that Sabra was ready to move from a pediatric to an adult physician. With consultation from her pediatrician and a seminar conducted by the University of Washington, the transition went very smooth.

Since her junior year in high school, Rani Kapur, Sabra’s caseworker from the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), has been involved in her transition from school to work. She gave Sabra a career questionnaire, which indicated Sabra had a strong leaning towards teaching. After graduating from Auburn High School, Mrs. Kapur recommended that Sabra be enrolled at Renton Technical College to get a diploma in Para-Education. After securing a Metro ACCESS ride to and from Renton Technical College, Sabra was ready to begin!

One of the requirements for graduation from Renton Technical College was to fulfill four internships—each lasting eight weeks. That’s when Sabra’s mentor, Dr. Kip Herren, then principal of Auburn High, now an Assistant Superintendent, came into the picture. Dr. Herren arranged three internships within Auburn School District and his secretary arranged the fourth to take place at the King County Justice Center’s daycare facility in Kent. When we discussed the internships with Dr. Herren and voiced our concern about transporting Sabra to each one, we will never forget the comment he made. “Though Sabra has graduated from the Auburn School District, we will never cut the umbilical cord, and we’ll help her in whatever way we can.” Even now, just thinking of those words brings tears to our eyes. Dr. Herren was willing to provide transportation for Sabra to attend all four of her internships. Over the years, our philosophy was to keep a good relationship with the school district and while crossing the bridges, don’t burn them behind you. Who knows when we might need help.

Sabra completed her course in Para-Education in the fall of 1998 and was officially awarded a certificate in February of 1999. She was hired that same month by the Auburn School District - her first “real” job as a teacher’s assistant. However, the classroom setting, her new environment, and a few other things did not go very well for her. She only worked for a little over two months at this position. We wanted to have a conference with the classroom teacher to give some background on Sabra, in other words “educate the teacher.” However, we restrained ourselves by saying, “Let the chips fall where they fall.” For the remainder of the year we attended a number of workshops that gave us helpful information on how to help Sabra land another job. Also, after talking to a number of employment agencies, we picked Trillium (located in Auburn) to help Sabra find a new position.

Per Trillium’s suggestion, Sabra joined AmeriCorps. Through AmeriCorps, Sabra was assigned a Para-Educator job at her favorite school, Washington Elementary. She was in heaven! It was the same school she had helped kids while she was in high school and one of the four internships she had completed through Renton Technical College. In the fall of 2000, Sabra was hired again. And this time to stay! Since she started working at Washington Elementary School, every year Sabra helps an average of ten students who need assistance in reading. She has her own computer to track her students’ progress and she reports this information to the classroom teacher.

Sabra is happy, has a steady job, and her worldly needs are being met. This year marks Sabra’s seventh year working with the Auburn School District. She’s working at a job that she loves to do, and she’s making a difference in the lives of all of those children she comes in contact with on a daily basis. We all hope it’ll last until Sabra retires!

Hameed and Sue Quraishi
725 3rd Ave NE
Pacific, WA 98047-1210
(360) 735-5797