For 23-year-old Kourtenay Tharp of Columbia, Maryland, doing things on her own is very important to her. To help her in this regard, The Eric Fund is providing special adaptive plates and bowls to help Kourtenay feed herself more easily, whether she is at home or in the community. 

Kourtenay has a variety of disabilities, including Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, mental retardation and as well as visual, auditory, orthopedic and speech language challenges. But while Kourtenay is small for her age at less than four feet tall, she is extremely strong in mind, body and spirit. 

According to her mother Leslie Tharp, Kourtenay has a “hug that doesn’t quit” and a great smile, She enjoys music and going out. And as long as she is feeling well, eating is always a favorite activity. 
     
“Kourtenay has so many needs, the costs add up quickly,” says Leslie. “I felt elated (about the Eric Fund Grant) because I could really purchase a number of adaptive eating utensils and dishes that could make life easier for Kourtenay . . .  (and help her) live more independently.

These individuals were awarded an Eric Fund Grant in 2000:

• David Klingelhoffer
• Sean Haro
• Martin Maldonado
• Benjamin Seidl
• Heather James

Forty year-old Stephan Bragg of Lorton, Va., will be getting the gift of new wheels this holiday season, thanks to The Eric Fund. Stephan, who relies on his wheelchair to go everywhere, has been using the same chair for the past 10 years and both he and his father are tired of the constant repairs that it requires. The Eric Fund will be awarding him with a new Quickie/Breezy 600 wheelchair. 

His father, who is Stephan's primary caregiver, was thrilled to learn about his son's Eric Fund grant award. "The new wheelchair will eliminate the aggravation of having to constantly fix the old one," he said enthusiastically. "That thing had something go wrong with it every week!" The Breezy 600 is considered the best standard wheelchair on the market today. It's lighter and safer than Stephan's current chair, and comes with a number of options that can be customized to fit his needs.

Stephan, who has a traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident in 1981, is partially paralyzed on his left side. In addition to freeing him of the hassle of repairing the old wheelchair, the new wheelchair will free Stephan from isolation and solitude by allowing him to go out in the community and make new connections.  He will no longer be dependent on his father to help him get around. 

The Eric Fund will also be awarding Stephan a new bath chair to replace the old one that he has been using for ten years. 

Zachary Baldwin is three years old and his friend Diamani McNeely (pictured at left) is four. They are also both deaf. Their mothers are friends who got acquainted through a parent support group in Washington, D.C. for parents of children who are deaf.

Zach and Diamani have similar needs. When Diamani's mother, Amber Robles Gordon, found out that the Eric Fund had selected Diamani as an award winner, she was thrilled, but the first question out of her mouth was, "Was Zachary Baldwin selected too?" She was equally concerned that Zach, too, would be granted the assistive technology that both children need.

The Eric Fund will be funding environmental controls for the children that will assist them with basic living skills and increase their ability to interact with the hearing members of their families at home. A First Alert smoke detector, which provides visual cues as opposed to auditory cues to alert someone of a fire, will make their homes safer. A TTY device will assist in teaching the children how to communicate via the telephone by using a keypad as opposed to a handset. Similar to the First Alert, the Nutone Strobe door chime and the Simplicity Telephone Ring Signaler both indicate that someone is "calling" by giving a visual cue. Both children will receive all four controls. 

Diamani's mother explained that the technology will help her son become more aware of things that hearing people take for granted. 

"Diamani needs these things to adapt to everyday living," says his mother. "They will help teach him basic daily activities that will help him grow and mature as an adult."

As his mother, she is excited because she knows that these basic devices will increase her son's ability to communicate with her. She says she looks forward to the day when he will come to her and say, "Mommy, someone is at the door." 

Zachary Baldwin lives with his mother and his grandmother. Zachary's mother, Renee Johnson, is the only one who knows sign language. She's eager for her son to learn how to use his TTY so that he'll be able to better communicate with his grandmother. 

"Zach is at an age in his life where he is beginning to understand that he is different from other people because he can't hear," said his mother. "It's very important that he learn that he can do everything a hearing person can do, but that he's just going to have to learn to do them differently. [The technology that the Eric Fund is going to provide for Zach] will teach him basic social and adaptive skills that will begin to help him understand that." 

In addition to having sons who are deaf, Zach's mom and Diamani's mom share single motherhood. Raising a child with a disability involves additional financial costs. Assistive technology is expensive and as any parent will tell you, securing funding for devices can often be extremely difficult and frustrating.   Renee and Amber were both thrilled to find out that The Eric Fund would be helping them out ... and helping their dreams for their children to come true.

Katherine Montgomery looks forward to the day when a room of kids can call her teacher.

Katherine is a 21-year-old freshman at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia.  She is pursuing an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts with a goal of teaching upon graduation.  

While she received good support from the Fairfax Public Schools as a high school student, Katherine, like many other students with disabilities transitioning out of the school system, found herself without the school-provided services or equipment on which she relied once she graduated. 

That’s when she turned to The Eric Fund. With the Fund’s help, Katherine is on her way to achieving her goal. The Eric Fund, with help from its generous donors, has granted Katherine more than $2,500 for a laptop computer that will enable her to take notes in class and complete school assignments that require a good deal of writing with voice-activated software. The Eric Fund will also provide her with a Microsoft Works suite that includes word and e-mail programs as well as access to the Internet –tools that every successful college student needs.

In addition to school and studying, Katherine enjoys hanging out with her friends, some of whom she met at an Easter Seals-sponsored camp, which she has attended since she was 14. The camp counselors come from all over the world to gain knowledge and experience from the campers and in turn expose them to a wider world.  Katherine’s email buddy list includes friends from England, Holland, and Australia.  

The Eric Fund is proud to support Katherine in becoming a teacher of tomorrow. 

On April 10, 2002, 12-year-old Monay Gross saw independence from a new point of view – a bicycle seat. At a Mobility Day event, Monay, a Washington, DC pre-teen with cerebral palsy, rode an adaptive tricycle for the first time on her own – pedaling, steering and braking by her own power.

In an effort to help Monay continue to experience the joy, freedom and confidence she got from riding the tricycle by herself, Monay’s physical therapist, Claire Wong, began working with local disability groups to secure funding to buy Monay a trike of her own. At nearly $4,200 per trike, this was a tall order. 

Ms. Wong knew that in addition to the emotional benefits, the adaptive tricycle provided Monay with much needed physical therapy, cardiovascular and balance training. As Monay grew taller, she began experiencing balance loss and could stand only a brief time without the support of her arm or a walker. While she uses a power wheelchair at school and in the community, Monay must use a manual wheelchair in the small home she shares with her grandmother. Due to the home’s design, Monay must walk in certain areas that cannot accommodate her wheelchair. Because Monay’s grandmother is her primary caregiver and cannot provide a lot of physical assistance, it is imperative that Monay develop and maintain her mobility for her daily activities.

Monay can now stay on the road physical and cardiovascular therapy thanks to The Eric Fund and its donors. Supplementing the $1,075 donated by Silver Spring, Maryland’s SEEC, The Eric Fund granted Monay $3,250 to purchase an Adventurer adaptive tricycle with a special stationery trainer that lets her ride the trike indoors as well as outdoors with her friends. 

Monay enjoys the freedom of riding her adaptive tricycle in her neighborhood and exercising outside in the fresh air. She is also looking forward to riding in the cold. While her friends have to put their bicycles away for the winter, Monay can continue to ride at home, as she motors on to improved physical fitness.

For 19-year-old Jack Mattalug, becoming the architect of his own future is a top priority. “I want to be an architect or an engineer”, said Jack. “I enjoy studying art and math and I like working on the computer.”  

Jack’s desire and determination is even more impressive when you consider the challenges he faces.  Jack, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, has both visual and hearing impairments. He has an artificial left eye and minimal vision in his right. He also has moderate hearing loss in his right ear and wears a hearing aid. 

But with assistive technology, Jack is meeting his challenges head on and succeeding. In 2002, the honor roll student at Rockville High School was accepted into the competitive drafting and design program at Thomas Edison School of Technology. Jack takes academic classes at Rockville High and then participates in the half-day program at Edison, also part of the Montgomery County Public School system. Jack takes Computer Aided Design classes (CAD) as part of his pre-engineering and architecture training at Edison, drafting plans and creating architectural and engineering designs. 

Since creating these designs involves seeing and drawing intricate details, The Eric Fund awarded Jack a closed circuit TV (CCTV) with a color monitor to help him read the diagrams, teacher corrections and text books essential to his studies. To help Jack hear more effectively in class, The Eric Fund also awarded Jack an FM System to help him filter out background noises during class. The FM system allows a teacher to wear a microphone to transmit the lesson directly to Jack’s FM system, allowing him to hear better and concentrate. The school system allowed him to use the FM system and CCTV on a trial basis, but in order to succeed, Jack needed to own the equipment so he can use it at home for homework, in school and take it with him when he goes to college. And since the insurance company does not deem the equipment, while essential to his success and development, medically necessary, the cost is not covered. “Jack is harder working than any other student I have all day long,” says his pre-engineering teacher. “He is a joy to work with. An ‘A’ student.”

His vision teacher at Rockville High, Arlene Mak, who told Jack about The Eric Fund Fund, agrees. “Jack is one of those kids who touches people. No matter who he comes into contact with, he shines through and people recognize what a great, driven kid he is,” Ms. Mak says.

Jack’s mother, Dominga Tayem, was thrilled that her son was receiving an Eric Fund Grant. When she immigrated to the United States in 1984 from the Philippines as a nanny for a diplomatic family, she did so with the intent of eventually bringing Jack, his two sisters and her husband over to enjoy a better life in the United States and to get better services for Jack. She was separated from her family for 11 years, until she established citizenship in 1996 and was able to bring her family over to join her.  

Ms. Tayem says Jack has blossomed in the  six years he has been in the U.S. and she is grateful for all of the opportunities he has been given in the school system. She works several jobs to help support her family and send her kids to college. “Education is very important to me. It’s important to improve your life, especially here in America,” says Ms. Tayem. “I want my kids to have every opportunity to get a good job and be what they want to be.”

For all she has done for him and his family, Jack tells his mom he is going to design a house for her one day. “It is the greatest thing to hear that. But I told him I don’t want a big house. I don’t want to be cleaning it,” she says with a laugh.