It's always a fight #1

The speaker, Mindy Nezka, introduces herself as the host of the podcast "It's Always a Fight" and talks about her motivation for starting the James Foundation, a newly formed non-profit organization that aims to serve young adults with disabilities. She shares the challenges faced by her three sons, Zach, Ben, and James, who have disabilities and need better employment opportunities and advocates. Mindy highlights the limited support provided by vocational rehabilitation and expresses her desire to change this by offering mentorship and assistance to young adults with special needs. She mentions the progress of the foundation, including receiving $40 in donations, having a logo and brochure, and the need for help with printing. Mindy describes the constant fight she faces for her children's healthcare and educational needs and hopes to create awareness and comfort in society for interacting with individuals with special needs. She plans to discuss their life experiences and challenges Welcome to It's Always a Fight. I am your host, Mindy Nezka. I am a wife to Jim. I am a mom to seven. Amanda, Sarah, Zach, Haley, Ben, Molly, James. I am one of the founders of the James Foundation, which I'll talk about in a minute. So my reason for this podcast is to get the word out there about the James Foundation. The James Foundation is a newly formed, in March, non-profit organization, and what we hope to do is we hope to serve young adults with disabilities. Currently, and we've always had three sons that have disabilities, Zachary, Benjamin, and James. Each very unique individual, each with their own sense of the world, each with different challenges. So Zach is 27, lives in a group home, works at a day program, has, you know, is, in my opinion, underserved. Ben is 24. He works at a local pizza establishment. He has been there for almost six years, has gotten a 75 cent raise in that six year time period. James is a high school student. He will be a senior in the fall. He's allowed to attend until he's 22 years old. He is, all of my sons are wheelchair dependent. They all have some cognitive challenges. James has a very limited use of his arms. Like I said, is wheelchair dependent, so cannot walk. They all have their own unique set of challenges. Our inspiration for the James Foundation is our voice. So I know that the young adult population is horribly underserved as far as employment goes, as far as having advocates, as far as having people to help come alongside them and mentor them. And we would like to change that. We would love to have our sons have gainful employment opportunities. We would love for them to know how to advocate for themselves. We would love to have people come alongside them and form a relationship with them and help them with life's challenges. My reasoning for doing this is because we've had experiences with vocational rehabilitation. And in our experiences, they have shown that they're overworked at vocational rehab. They have limited time to really come alongside people and help them to be successful in the workforce, to encourage them to take on new challenges, to encourage their employers to let them take on challenges. And that's what we want to do. We hope to change that. We started it, like I said, because of our voice, but we also know that there are many, many other people like our voice who need this help and we want to help them. That is really what we want to do. So, how it's going. Right now, we have gotten $40 in donations. I have a wonderful friend who has created our logo. It is absolutely beautiful. It is three smiley faces, primary colors. It's bright. It's just so cute. It was the first one I looked at and it was the one I went with. Our son, James, has the brightest smile and it just blew me away. We also have brochures printed, or not printed, but we have a brochure created so that we can give them to people. We need help with printing and that type of thing. So, what I'm asking and why I'm here is to kind of fill you in on our life. So, I know that everybody's life is tough and full of challenges. When you have kids that have special needs, there is an extra layer of toughness there. I can't tell you how many times I have had to fight for something, for services for one of my boys, for physical therapy, for occupational therapy, for speech, for adaptive equipment, for all kinds of things, to fight for doctors, to actually see my boys and to look at them and kind of delve into what the issues are other than the surface things. My three boys and my oldest daughter, Amanda, have what is called a VP shunt for hydrocephalus, which is technically fluid on the brain. And when you go to a doctor and they're throwing up and they aren't feeling well, they have a headache, they automatically look at that shunt. They go and they do x-rays and CAT scans. I remember one time when we took one of the kids home from the hospital and they were still continuing to throw up and have headaches. Lo and behold, they checked their ears. They had an ear infection. Something so simple. But anyway, the reason I name my podcast It's Always a Fight is because just that. I often feel like we are always fighting for something. I have fought for IEP changes. I have fought for all the things. And I just want to express to you that I'm always fighting and that's what we want to do through our foundation is we want to fight for change in the areas of employment and the areas of socialization. We want the general population to feel comfortable interacting with these people that have special needs. I know a lot of times that people come up, especially in James' face, he's 17, and they talk to him like he's a baby. Hey, James, how are you today? Oh, you're so cute. They pinch his cheeks. They compliment him on his face. And then they'll leave and James will be like, I'm not a baby. And I'm like, I know you're not a baby, James, but they don't know how to talk to you. And that's something else I would love to accomplish. But anyway, I plan in future episodes to talk about our life and some of the challenges that we face. Recently, there was a trip to the beach that, you know, there was a lot involved in that. People, I feel like they can just get in the car and go for a day trip to the beach. We can't just get in the car and go for a day trip to the beach. It's just not possible. But we'll talk about that in a future episode. We'll also talk about, you know, recently James had a wheelchair appointment where he needed some different seating and how difficult it is to get him seated in a proper position. What's involved in that? You can't just throw a pillow behind his head and hope for the best. It is a process. That is really what I want to get across. And I also want to get across that there is a really great need for this foundation that we have created and are trying to build. And we would love to partner with some of you and get you all to help us with advocacy help, with mentoring help, with financial help by donating a service like t-shirt printing or literature printing or, you know, anything. Just help with something. We're just trying to get the word out there. Anyway, for now, this is where I'm going to leave off. Again, my name is Mindy Neasga. I am the founder, co-founder, because my husband is right there with me, of the James Foundation. I'm a mom. I am a wife. I am just like you. But I want to really make a change in this world and help the young adults with special needs. That is my goal. So please tune in, listen. Future podcasts are going to be much more fluid, much better. This is my first one. I appreciate you listening and I hope that you and I can get to know each other better. Until next time.