Making KC Accessible for All is the one stop site for KC families with loved ones needing disability resources. MKCA helps to make finding Kansas City based special education resources even easier and in one spot.
Dr. Mark Fisher, MD, FAAPMR, is a subspecialty trained pediatric rehab physician at Children’s Mercy who has developed the region’s only medical program dedicated to helping children and young adults with disability enter and excel in adaptive sports and fitness. He serves on the board of VarietyKC and is a member of USA Climbing’s Medical Committee focusing on the developing and growing the relatively new adaptive sport of paraclimbing. Dr Fisher’s clinic is one of only a few in the entire country to focus on adaptive sports medicine. Adaptive sports medicine bridges the fields of rehabilitation medicine and sports medicine to provide care tailored to the participation, injury prevention/treatment, and performance of children and young adults with a cognitive or physical disability. Dr Fisher believes that supporting equitable access to recreation, physical activity, and sport is one of the most powerful ways to promote health, socialization, and independence.
Children's Mercy offers the Adaptive Sports Medicine Program at two locations in Kansas City:
Children's Mercy Sports Medicine Center of Village West
1801 N. 98th Street, Kansas City, KS 66111
Children's Mercy College Boulevard
5520 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66211
Please visit the website or contact the program to find out more information or to schedule an evaluation.
(816) 234-3970, select Option 1
www.childrensmercy.org/adaptivesports
Blog article:
"Adaptive Sports for Kids with disabilities:
7 Things Parents Should Know"
by Dr. Mark Fisher
Click here to read.
My name is Angela Holtgraves, I have been a special education teacher in public education for over a decade in the KC area. I grew up in KC and attended Saint Thomas Aquinas for high school, where I met my husband. I then went on to Xavier University in Cincinnati for my undergrad and came home to KC and received my master's degree in special education from UMKC. I have always believed my students can do anything, I just have to find the way they learn best. I am certified in adaptive special education K-12th grade and low-incidence special education K-12th grade. I also have a passion for helping to collect toys and gifts for low-income families and children battling pediatric cancer so they may have a Christmas.
Above all else, I am a mother to two amazing kids, RJ and Zoey Ann. I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Rob, for 10 years and we have been together for close to 20 years. I am very blessed that he encourages me to always follow my heart and understands my passion for special education. He and our children also supported me through my breast cancer battle at the age of 28. I am now a six-year survivor and look forward to many more years as a survivor. Out of my breast cancer battle came The Stocking Project for Children's Mercy Hospital. The Stocking Project is a yearly event. We work to collect toys and stocking stuffers for the children at CMH who are battling pediatric cancer. To date, we have filled close to 800 stockings and raised over $60,000 in collected items.
I believe a parent should be their child's best advocate in life. My parents taught me to never give up faith in myself and to push for what I believe in. It is my goal to help families best advocate for their children and to find all of the Kansas City Special Needs resources I can help them to find. We are lucky that KC offers so many disability resources, but it can be overwhelming on where to begin. So please, let MKCA help you!
Over my years in special education, I constantly had parents asking about resources or surprised there were programs available to their child. I created a resource booklet for my families, but over time more people asked for access to the information. Out of these requests came Making KC Accessible for All. I hope this site helps you and your loved ones to have access to our incredible city. You will find categories with resources for a variety of topics, every photo links directly to the companies site on that topic.
This site is in honor of every parent who trusted me to teach their child and for every one of the amazing students who have ever entered my classroom. You have made me a better person and I hope you learned even half as much as I have learned from all of you.
Love to all of you,
Mrs. H
"It's kinda fun to do the impossible" - Walt Disney
(Pictured: on a fun note, meet my buddy Graham, we bonded over everything Disney. Hi buddy!)
MKCA is run completely by donations. Please help me keep the site going and free for all families needing its resources.
