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Navigating Neurodiversity

Arc Southern Chesapeake

Navigating Neurodiversity helps families, caregivers and professionals better support neurodivergent individuals, including those with autism and other intellectual or developmental disabilities. Guided by host Rita Rich, every episode offers actionable advice, inspiring conversations and trusted resources to help you navigate the journey with confidence. This podcast has been created by The Arc Southern Chesapeake and was formerly known as "See Me. See My Ability."

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English

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#88
Tuesday · 17 min
Presuming Competence: Changing How We Think About Autism and Ability
“My son is not a tragedy.” … For writer, journalist and autism caregiver Kelley Colihan Robertson, supporting her 24-year-old autistic son has meant challenging assumptions about intelligence, communication and capability. She shares what she's learned about presuming competence, finding ways for nonspeaking or limited-speech autistic people to communicate, and focusing on what individuals can do rather than what others assume they can't.
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S3 · E87
August 18 · 11 min
Education, Advocacy and Making Good Trouble
Sarah and Ed Escowitz weren’t afraid to make trouble. That’s why they made history. In Part 2 of our conversation, Sarah reflects on their work building The Arc in Calvert County, fighting for better special education and helping parents use IEPs in schools to advocate for their children. Sarah and host Rita Rich discuss the challenges of securing local special education and services, their move and continued advocacy in Virginia, and the lasting recognition of their work through an ARC volunteer award in their name.
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S3 · E86
August 4 · 13 min
When No Was The Only Answer: Part 1 with one of the earliest Arc leaders Sarah Eskowitz
Sarah Eskowitz recounts raising her son with significant disabilities in 1970s Calvert County, noticing developmental delays and rejecting institutional care in favor of community-based, family-sized homes. She and other parents successfully advocated to shift funding and policy toward smaller supported homes; today her son lives in a supportive group home, socially engaged and well cared for, illustrating how grassroots advocacy transformed services for people with disabilities in Southern Maryland.
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S3 · E85
July 21 · 10 min
Food Is Medicine: Transforming Group Home Nutrition with My25
Host Rita Rich interviews Jim Vail, co-creator of My25, about using a meal-planning platform to improve nutrition and health for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They discuss practical tools like videos, smart grocery lists, plate rebalancing, and moderation over deprivation, plus measurable outcomes such as improved BMI and reduced medication needs. Learn how My25 saves staff time, supports healthier choices in group homes, and where to find the platform and ARC Southern Chesapeake resources.
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S3 · E84
July 6 · 5 min
Summer, Rights, and Resilience: Olmstead Under Threat
See Me, See My Ability is the podcast of the ARC Southern Chesapeake. In this episode, Rita Rich celebrates summertime activities while spotlighting the work supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The episode explains the Olmstead Supreme Court decision and a recent Department of Justice opinion that could weaken community living protections, featuring warnings from disability advocates about the potential consequences for home and community‑based services. ARC Southern Chesapeake affirms that disability rights are human rights, shares how advocates are monitoring these threats, and invites listeners to find the podcast at arcsoch.org and consider supporting their work. Citations: You tube link pbs news hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWV6LABu0T0 Arc USA Position on Department of Justice Opinion https://www.arcnc.org/blog/position-statement-special-education-and-community-integration?fbclid=IwY2xjawSuKrBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe7U1_fAbPBf2BoVzQGvGi_k2_h8ytcU_ZT15llZ4p5O_EQfPyJa3mvBGMWaw_aem_1i1i1THN3SMbgXubf7qfEQ
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#83
June 23 · 10 min
Inside ARC’s Sensory Room: Serenity, Shaving Cream & a Lava Lamp
See Me, See My Ability presents a look inside the ARC Southern Maryland’s new sensory room in Lexington Park with Beth Wolfe, the director of nursing. In this episode Beth describes the room’s calming features — subdued lighting, music, a lava lamp, a chalkboard mural by a program participant, and flexible seating — designed to offer quiet and choice. The episode highlights hands-on activities like shaving cream play, weighted blankets, music stations, therapy balls and gentle stretching that help reduce anxiety and support sensory needs. Staff explain how the room is used by day program participants and residential individuals, and how simple tools make relaxation and therapy feel fun. The sensory room’s growth is driven by donations and grants; the episode thanks supporters and shows how small comforts can make a big difference in daily quality of life.
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S3 · E82
June 9 · 8 min
Building Inclusion: Kayla Carter’s Day Program Revolution
Kayla Carter, director of ARC Southern Maryland’s Waldorf day programs, describes how she creates community partnerships, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and a lively activity calendar to help clients gain skills and independence. The episode covers outreach to local businesses, hands-on learning (money management, languages, Zumba, knitting), family feedback as a measure of progress, and the importance of a sensory room for calming and self‑regulation.
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S3 · E81
May 26 · 8 min
Print It Forward-Assistive Technology and the Arc Southern Maryland
Three-D printers are all the rage and The Arc Southern Maryland is teaching its clients to use them to create assistive technology. Listen as Nora Walker, with the State Department for Disabilities visited with us in Prince Frederick and showed us some of the many possibilities.
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S3 · E80
May 12 · 10 min
A Conversation With One of Our Moms, Donna DePamphelis
Hear this conversation with a parent, and a longtime advocate for IDD students in Charles County, Donna DePamphelis, who is being honored next month by the statewide Arc Maryland. This mom of the soon-to-be 34-year-old Rashawn, one of our residents, talks about all that the Arc Southern Maryland has done for her and her daughter.
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S3 · E79
April 28 · 4 min
It's Baseball Season in Southern Maryland! Blue Crabs and the Arc Southern MD
At last! It’s Baseball Season! For the past couple of decades that meant that Arc Southern Maryland clients and personal support staff get a field day with members of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs professional baseball team! Listen to the fun and comradery and get yourself to a game!
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S3 · E78
April 14 · 12 min
From Earth Day to Earthset! 1970-2026
One of the things that happens during the podcasting classes at the Arc Southern Maryland is that our instructors and staff talk with clients about all sorts of neat things. One of those things was this past week's Artemis II spaceflight to the far side of the Moon, or the side of the Moon we do not see when we look up in the sky. We discussed how this moon mission harkens back to the time of the first moon flights, which coincided with the very first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Back then that was the very first time the world got to see our home from space, as the small blue planet that it is. That image sparked a movement for common good, cleaning up the Earth and trying to repair our world. To help with our discussion with talked with the Environmental Educator from the Alice Ferguson Foundation, Cody Hance. This native Southern Marylander is concerned about the amount of plastics that end up not only in our food, but as micro-plastics, inside of all of us. The music is by way of a YouTube upload of a 2017 commemoration of Earth Day at the New York City based American Museum of Natural History. We sample it with the permissions that are given productions that are made for teaching and educational purposes. The music was composed by The Turtles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzjJGGhKsHA Episode art created using Microsoft Co-Pilot
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S3 · E77
March 31 · 13 min
Autism Acceptance Month Featuring Victoria Rodriguez-Roldan
Our podcasting class in Prince Frederick hosted the lady in charge of the State of Maryland's Autism Strategy, Victoria Rodriguez-Roldan. She heard some of our participants' personal stories and answered questions from staff. You can find out more about where Victoria works here: https://mdod.maryland.gov/ Music: Ron Davis, jazz pianist, "All God's Children."
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S3 · E76
March 17 · 7 min
St. Patty's Day Lessons for All from the Arc Southern Maryland
Arc Southern Maryland students in Waldorf recently participated in a conversation with podcast host Rita Rich about St. Patrick's Day. Listen as the class talks about being proud of their ancestry and of being an American. Hear how they learned about prejudices persisting against those considered different decades ago. Another lesson learned: If you want people to understand the prejudices and misconceptions of others about your own intellectual or developmental disabilities, you need to be compassionate about the prejudices others face.
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S3 · E75
March 3 · 6 min
Tim Gowen: The Historic Special Olympian from Charles County
Episode 75 of the See Me. See My Ability: The Podcast of The Arc Southern Maryland features a conversation that podcast host Rita Rich had with 77-year-old Tim Gowen and his sister during DD Day in Annapolis. We met after members of our Arc and Tim spoke with State Senator Jack Bailey of St. Mary's County. Tim is a prime example of a guy who doesn't know what it means to quit! He's thinking about his next goals as an athlete and is proud to represent our state, Maryland.
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S3 · E74
February 17 · 6 min
DD Day Preview with Love & Guyton
Our DD Day preview: Throughout the day on the 18th, podcast host Rita Rich will be filing updates from our state Capital that will be available on the Arc Southern Maryland’s Facebook page. We’d like our people to check that page and click on our content throughout the day. Our guests are once again Senator Sara Love and Delegate Michelle Guyton. And, we bring back our ”siren song” from our last podcast episode which features Ronnie Hammond of Statewide Broadband.
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S3 · E73
February 3 · 12 min
Ronnie Hammond: Don't You Forget About Me
See Me. See My Ability. The Podcast of the Arc Southern Maryland recently talked with Ronnie Hammond, the director of the Maryland office for Statewide Broadband Development. He provides messages for our Arc Southern Maryland Advocates to share with state lawmakers on Developmental Disability Day on February 18th. #arcmaryland #annapolis #love #guyton #dontyouforgetaboutme#breakfastclub #ddday
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S3 · E72
January 20 · 12 min
Art In Full Spectrum on Display!
See Me, See My Ability Podcast of the Arc Southern Maryland talked with the two organizers of the Art in Full Spectrum exhibition on the fourth floor of the Maryland House of Delegates. Listen as two colleagues, State Delegate Michelle Guyton and State Senator Sara Love talk about their lives as mothers of neurodiverse kids, and advocates for other families and friends of the IDD. Our episode art is inspired by original art that is one of the 60 pieces on display now through mid April, 2026. Shout out to Akeem Young! Artificial Intelligence helped podcast host Rita Rich insert the headshots of our guests. See the original piece of art and our guests during Developmental Disability Day in Annapolis next month! #arcmaryland #ddday #ArcSoMD
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S3 · E71
January 6 · 5 min
Wishes and Hopes for 2026
Rita Rich talked with Arc SO MD clients about their wishes and hopes for 2026. For some, it was maintaining what made them happy. For others, they hope for big changes. Others quietly asked others to do their best to petition their government for a better life. In the end, we are all asked to try harder to listen and hear what others are saying. #2026 #resolutions #wishes #hopes #arc #southernmaryland.
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S3 · E70
Dec 16, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min
2025 Highlights of See Me. See My Ability: The Podcast of the Arc Southern Maryland
These are just samples of some of our sound-rich podcast episodes released in 2025. It highlights podcasting class lessons of Arc clients, and others, about the use of background and other sounds and how podcasts can be created outdoors. It's another way that we learn to meet our community "where they are," whether it's via Zoom, or going out and about to interact with them. It also highlights our teaching about how horrible conditions have been for people all sorts of handicaps in our country and how our people are advocating that "we will not go back." #arc #maryland #disabilityrightsarehumanrights #SouthernMaryland #SouthernChesapeake #2025
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S3 · E69
Dec 2, 2025 · 12 min
The Queen and Terry of the Arc Southern....
Welcome to our first podcast of December, 2025. It's been a hard year and financially for Arcs around Maryland. Thank goodness for some good news and positive developments for the Arc Southern Maryland and it's longtime support staff and the people we serve. Listen as one of our friends Malek Stover stands up and speaks in front of the whole podcasting class, and our our executive director, Terry Long, explains how our Arc is growing and taking on new turf.
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