Campus & Community

SUPAC Conference on Transition Planning for Life after High School for Students with Disabilities

Tuesday, February 14, 2017, By Jennifer Russo

The Syracuse University Parent Assistance Center (SUPAC), the Mid-State Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center (RSE-TASC) and Onondaga Community College (OCC) will host a free conference, “Finding Your Way! Understanding Transition Planning In and After High School.” The event, scheduled for Monday, March 13, on the OCC campus in Syracuse, is an exciting opportunity for families, professionals and students with disabilities to learn about planning for life after high school and the services offered in their community.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m., with the final session of the day ending at 2:30 p.m. Parking on the OCC campus is free.

The goal of this event is to support students with disabilities to find opportunities and services so they can achieve their post-secondary goals and dreams. Providing information and resources for living, learning and working after high school, this unique combination of workshops and information will help educate students and their families to unlock their potential options for their future.

The conference will offer a family/professional track and a student track, and includes a keynote presentation, a panel discussion sharing success stories and a resource fair providing information about a wide range of programs and services.

The keynote presenter will be local media personality Geoff Herbert, who calls himself “DeafGeoff.”  He is an entertainment reporter and search engine optimization lead for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. He writes about music, movies, television, celebrity gossip and other hot topics, as well as working in SEO for the Syracuse Media Group. On nights and weekends, he works as a DJ. As his nickname suggests, he is deaf. He was born with a profound binaural hearing loss, which means that he hears about 10 percent as well as the average person. He will share his personal stories of hard work and perseverance to kick off the event.

The “Stories of Success” panel discussion session includes individuals who are currently transitioning or who have transitioned successfully into their adult lives. The audience will learn about the panelists’ individual triumphs as well as how they navigated obstacles and worked towards post-secondary success.

The resource fair will feature a variety of community support agencies, post-secondary program, and other organizations displaying their products and services. These vendors will offer information on adult services, post-school options and more.

There is no cost to attend to conference, but registration is required. To register, find more information on the schedule, or participate as a vendor in the Resource Fair, visit http://supac.org/training/finding-way-2017-transition-conference/.

Syracuse University Parent Assistance Center is the Mid-State Special Education Parent Technical Assistance Center, funded through a contract with the New York State Education Department Office of Special Education and seeks to empower parents of children with disabilities to become meaningfully involved in their children’s education. SUPAC is a project of the Center on Human Policy under the School of Education.