The Gift of Accessibility

As December winds down, I like to take time to reflect on the past year. So much has happened, and so much has changed. 

Change can be something you never knew you needed. It can be something that brings joy or improvement—a gift. 

When I moved to Michigan, it was a drastic change. Everything was different—my home, my school, my peers, my hobbies—everything. 

However, I was gifted lifelong friendships I never knew could exist. I was gifted personal growth and strength. I was gifted a program that led me to my dream career—a place like Family Hope Foundation.

If you’re like me, gifts are incredibly special to give. And admit it, it feels pretty great to be on the receiving end, too! Gifts make you feel special. They’re a way of showing love and appreciation to those around you. They’re a way to celebrate GRATITUDE.

Family Hope Foundation is filled with gratitude. We’ve given the gift of ability to families because of the gifts received by YOU—You’ve made this possible. Remember the gratitude-generosity loop?

Here are just a few examples of gifts we’ve experienced this past year:

• Partnered with MORE therapy providers to expand the ways we can HELP children with disabilities.
• Generosity paved the way for an INCREASE in the number of scholarships to families.
• Held more events to build COMMUNITY for families. 
• Celebrated our 10th year PARTNERING with Celebration Cinema for Sensory Showtimes.
• Added a new secure Portal to manage and GROW the Scholarship Program.
• Revamped our branding reflected in new brochures and banners that better show our MISSION.
• Learned new ways to get our message out there. We want to SUPPORT MORE families—and we have!

There’s one gift in particular that we’ve been working on lately. I’m so excited to talk about it—a gift that we’re able to give to so many people. And it’s the perfect time to share!

We’ve recently enhanced our website, adding a new tool to make our website more accessible and disability friendly. 

AccessiBe is a widget that’s now available on our website! It allows individuals with disabilities to be able to modify and customize their experience online.

There are millions of people with disabilities who need accessibility, not just in our facilities and public spaces, but online too. We want anyone who accesses our website to have a positive experience—this MATTERS to us!

Here’s a peek at a few things the accessibility widget offers you.

This tool allows people with disabilities to adjust our website to accommodate their needs, from creating a seizure-safe profile to adding a screen reader to read information out loud. 

The accessibility goes far beyond these adjustments. You can change the colors, font sizes, line spacing, volume levels, cursor sizes, and pretty much anything else you need to make online surfing ACCESSIBLE.

With this new change, we can widen our gift-giving. We’re able to impact individuals with disabilities in ways that often get overlooked. We can give the GIFT of ACCESSIBILITY to anyone who visits our website. 

Our mission is powered by generosity—it’s what builds our strength—what makes us abundantly grateful for the opportunities we can offer families. And It’s YOUR support that will help us impact MORE families. What a wonderful way to celebrate generosity!

Madeline Puckett
Program Coordinator

p.s. Take a moment to reflect on the gifts you’ve given or received this year, big or small. We are filled with gratitude for all of the gifts we have received this year. And we’re excited to give MORE gifts to families very soon—2024 is going to be an exciting year!