Episode 1: Welcome to Life Without a Filter!

When the school bus stops coming, what happens next?  Let's talk about the fears, questions, and realities families face the day public education ends.

Welcome to Episode 1 of Life Without a Filter!  In this episode, you will hear a bit about our family and the decision we made when our son, L, finished his public school education.

Join us for future episodes as we take deep dives into what a self-direction program is, what I need to do to make it work, and hear from other families that are currently thriving in navigating this program model.

Thanks for joining us on our journey!

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For more information on the resources we share, visit our website: https://lifewithoutafiltercf.com/

As a Disclaimer, I am NOT a lawyer, a medical doctor, or a licensed psychologist. I am writing this blog as a mom sharing her journey and opinions. My views are my own and should not be construed as any direct medical or legal advice. (I hate having to write a disclaimer, but this is the world we live in!)

Transcript

 Hi everyone, and welcome to Life Without a Filter!
I’m Cheryl—wife of 29 years, mom to two amazing young adults who are now 24 and 25, and yes, mom to a very spoiled fur baby. For the past 16 years, I’ve worked as an Assistive Technology Consultant, helping students and families find tools that make learning and living more accessible. And now, I’m adding podcastering to that list.

For months now, I’ve been hearing that little whisper in the back of my head—you know, the one that nudges you toward your next step? For me, that whisper was about sharing our family’s journey. Specifically, what it’s been like as our son transitioned from the comfort and structure of public school into the very unpredictable world of adult services.

And let me tell you—this journey is exciting, but it can also feel scary and lonely. When your child ages out of the school system, suddenly you’re staring at this wide-open space of unknowns. Programs, services, waitlists, funding models—it’s a lot. And even though I knew other families who had already walked this path, it didn’t make the leap feel any less intimidating.

So, I created this podcast as a space to share. To share our struggles and our successes, to highlight the resources that helped us—and yes, even the ones that led us astray—so that none of us has to feel like we’re navigating this alone.

But I don’t want this to just be about our story. You’ll also hear from other families—because every family has their own vision of what adult life should look like for their child. And there’s no “one right answer.” As the saying goes: when you’ve met one person with a disability, you’ve met one person with a disability. No cookie-cutter paths here—just unique journeys.

So, whether your young adult dreams of work, college, volunteering, or building a community life that brings them joy—this is a judgment-free zone. I’ll share what’s working for us, and if it works for you too, that’s wonderful. And if it doesn’t—that’s OK. We’re all here to learn from each other.

Disclaimer:
 Before I go further, a quick but important note: I’m not a lawyer, a doctor, or a licensed psychologist. I’m simply a mom, sharing our family’s story and what we’ve learned along the way. Please don’t take anything I share as legal or medical advice—just one parent’s perspective on this transition.

 Well, the name actually comes from my son. One of his many gifts is that he often says what everyone else in the room might be thinking, but no one else dares to say out loud. Sometimes that honesty makes us laugh, sometimes it makes us squirm, and sometimes it makes us reflect. But those unfiltered moments have taught me so much about looking at the world differently. Over the years, we’ve actually been writing some of those moments down, and I’ll be sprinkling them throughout this podcast.

 So, let me start by giving you a snapshot of where we’ve been.

If you had asked me eight years ago where I thought my son, L, would be at 24, I would have given you a dozen different answers. At one point, he wanted to go to college. Then he pivoted to focusing on vocational skills for employment. When he entered his high school’s Next Steps transition program, he worked on vocational skills, daily living skills, and functional academics.

But like so many young adults, he also looked around at what his friends were doing—and most of them were headed into adult service programs, specifically Community-Based Day Support programs. So when it came time to plan his next steps, that’s where he thought he wanted to go too.

And then—2020 happened. Programs shut down or went virtual. We watched from the sidelines as L’s friends had online activities and later returned to programs with limited staffing.

Fast forward to 2022—L’s final year in public school. We got “the list” of available programs from our DDS Transition Coordinator. We started making calls. And what we found was… waitlists. Lots of them. Some programs weren’t even taking new names because the lists were already so long.

By January 2023, we realized we needed another path. That’s when we started seriously looking into the self-directed service model through DDS. I’d been to a few webinars, so I knew the basics, but we had never taken a deep dive. Well—now we dove in headfirst. I attended every webinar I could find. We met with our DDS Coordinator. We reached out to parents already on this path.

By summer, we had a draft plan. Using person-centered planning, L mapped out his “best life”—and from there, we built a program that included vocational opportunities, continuing education, life skills, and community involvement. And you know what? The more we planned, the more excited we all became.

By September 2023, we had no program openings, L was anxious about leaving school, and everything pointed toward self-direction being the right move. So, we took the leap.

And now here we are—fall of 2025, starting year 3 of his program—and I can honestly say, we’re glad we did. Has it been easy? Not at all. There have been stressors, bumps, and plenty of late-night worries. Self-direction requires patience, flexibility, and a lot of family involvement. But for us—it’s working. And I want to share that process with you.

 In this series, I’ll walk you through the steps we took to get here. I’ll share resources that helped us, the mistakes we made, and the lessons we learned. And you’ll hear from other families who are also creating self-directed programs that fit their child’s unique needs and dreams.

So thank you for joining me here, wherever you are on your journey. My hope is that you leave each episode feeling just a little more supported, a little more equipped, and a lot less alone.

Talk soon,
 I’m Cheryl—and this is Life Without a Filter.