The movie "Accepted," but irl

DeAnna Pursai and her sister, Angel, were inseparable growing up. The two are only a year apart, and oftentimes – to make it easier for everyone – they would just say they were twins.

But regardless of their close bond, the sisters have lived quite different lives.

🙍‍♀️🙍‍♀️ Sister, sister... DeAnna went on to college to achieve degrees in elementary and special education as well as a masters in policy analysis, while Angel had no choice but to stay home, kicked out of the education system at 22 years old.

• 👆 Such is the case for many individuals living with Down syndrome or other intellectual disabilities.

😕 The catalyst: DeAnna hated coming home on school breaks to find her sister sitting on the couch, understimulated and unfulfilled in her young adulthood. “I felt a lot of guilt,” she said. “Because I truly believe in my heart of hearts that she is so much more intelligent than I am in most ways that matter.”

While Angel has Down syndrome, she was too high-functioning to find day programs stimulating or engaging – and too low-functioning for a traditional college education.

💡 That’s when DeAnna got an idea... what if there was a school for students just like her sister?

🏫 Meeting of the minds: DeAnna met Dr. Pam Lindsay, who has a daughter with autism. After hitting it off, the two decided to tackle the mission together.

• The women discussed the lack of education options for people with intellectual disabilities and designed a first-of-its-kind nonprofit: The College of Adaptive Arts in California.

🎓 More deets... Students choose the degree most interesting to them and work towards an eventual diploma, just like any other college student. 

“Our focus is not, ‘How high do you kick,’ or ‘How well can you read a sentence?’” shared Dr. Lindsay of the unique curriculum. “Our focus is, ‘Are you continuing to practice these skill sets and building these cognitive-developmental skill sets?’”

In a little over ten years, the school/nonprofit has expanded to include ten majors, including business, music, theater, and health and wellness. 

• CAAC has served more than 350 students to-date. It also recently formed a partnership with West Valley College in Saratoga, giving the program and its students more of that college feel.

📝 Bottom line: Per DeAnna, the majority of parents are so grateful for the program and what it’s provided for their adult children: a safe space to continue to learn, grow, and socialize.

• “It’s the integrity that we are treating their child like the intellectual adult they are,” she said. “It’s palpable joy. Every class is the same level of pure joy.”

Note: an earlier version of this story ran in Positive DONUT on May 3rd, 2022. I'm deep in 50-hour/week rehearsals for another slate of upcoming live shows so that's taking a lot of my focus rn, plus this tale was so sweet we needed to share it again.