My Life Without Limits

Michelle Francis now a Program Manager

for UCP will say the best advise her doctor could have given her parents was to “treat her as if she didn’t have CP”.  Her parents took the doctor at his word and at 6 months of age and diagnosed with cerebral palsy she was treated no differently than her siblings.  As a toddler she found her own way to accomplish how to walk and run…although it took her a little more time.  While in school she learned to rise above other kids who made fun of her by showing them their remarks didn’t faze her. While in school her first job was with Jack in the Box where the physical part of the job was difficult but she managed her own way and then became an excellent drive thru cashier.

It wasn’t until Michelle was in her 20’s when her family contacted UCP and this became a pivotal point in her life.  UCP recommended she go through the Dept. of Rehabilitation where she found herself being interviewed to become a Job Coach with UCP’s Supported Employment.  Once hired she assisted others with disabilities to learn their own way to accomplish what most people found as simple tasks.  She worked with local businesses to cultivate job opportunities for UCP’s program participants.  She helped in the development of the Supports to Achieve Independent Living program or SAIL.   In 1999 Michelle became the Program Manager for the SAIL’s program that is designed to empower program participants to live independently in their own resident in their own way.  Using a person-center approach all efforts are made to assist individuals to obtain and maintain living arrangements of their choice.  Michelle continues to follow her doctor’s advice; she lives her life as if she doesn’t have CP… a Life Without Limits.