Today we’d like to introduce you to Patty Myers.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
First, I am a mother of two children and been married to my husband Tony for over 30 years. I am a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst. My son Charlie is 19 years old and was diagnosed with Autism at age two. I previously was the Founder/CEO of All-Southern Care Rehab in Ft. Lauderdale for nine years (a home PT/OT/ST company that provides services to home health agencies). I also was the Principal of a Special Needs Private School in Orlando for over eight years. Currently, I am the Founder/CEO of Building Pathways Foundation (Ocoee, FL) and also Pathways For Life Academy (Winter Garden, FL).
My passion is to help teens and adults with disabilities to learn life, social, and job skills. Building Pathways Foundation has a home that helps train teens and adults with our Day Program, Social Skill Classes, and Summer Camps. We provide training with independent living skills as well as social and job skills. We have added a girl’s affordable supportive housing and will be adding a guy’s affordable supportive house in the Fall. We are also currently working on our Pathways Market, which includes a Flowershop and also vendors of persons with disabilities. I want to make real change in their lives. I want to help them be independent (even if they live with their parents, they can take care of themselves by doing their own laundry, cooking, and cleaning. They can do it, but need our help in being the bridge with local businesses. I help bring awareness and training for the businesses as well as support to the participants. I want them to see their value and worth in their company. I want our participants to be able to live on their own.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No. Many of the struggles have been financially. I have never had lots of financial backing, I just move forward little by little and I am super creative financially. We have had areas where we have done this training or homes we wanted to purchase and the neighborhood didn’t want us in there. Not just one. The challenges, too are not having enough resources to do all that we need to do. Currently, we are trying to put a pool in, finances are limited with our donations (we use this so much for summer camp). I can’t get help in the cost, even with our 501(c)(3). It has taken over 4+ months to get a fence installed for the safety of our participants. We need our stucco fixed. We need our house painted. We need things fixed in our house. Getting the word out about our need and finding local businesses to partner with us in donations and service. We need more staff to support our participants challenging behaviors.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am the Author of Autism Is A Blessing and love to help other families navigate this journey of autism or any learning disability. I have been on radio/tv interviews about my book or my advocacy for other families. I am most proud of my son and his growth. He works so hard. We have both worked hard over the years to help him talk, go to the bathroom on his own over age 5. What sets me apart from others is I don’t give up, I keep going. I keep trying to create programs that help our kids grow and be valuable members of our community. There are no limits (I’ll get sleep later).
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to create a guy’s house, a business where they can learn or work and get paid. After all that is done, I want to do all of these things in a different city here in Central Florida. There is so much need for this. I want to build an in-house scholarship to help assist anyone that needs it too. I am looking forward to creating our Pathways Market space. We will provide coffee/tea/smoothies/flowers/gifts and more. We want the space cozy and warm, a space where our adults can hang out at night too. We want all our products to be made or created by persons with disabilities.
Pricing:
- Summer Camps $350 a week
- Day Program 5 day $13,950 per year and $8950 for 3 Days
- Social Skill Classes – Tuesday 4-6pm (7-8 classes) $400, Saturday 10-1pm (7-8 classes) $600
Contact Info:
- Email: pmyersbuildingpathways@gmail.com
- Website: www.building-pathways.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingpathways/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPathwaysOrlando
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BuildingPathwa1
