Angie Gomez's son was born with a seizure disorder. Suddenly, she found herself trapped in an avalanche of medical referrals, social workers, doctors, paperwork and more paperwork. She felt scared and alone. Whom could she turn to? Who would understand what she was going through? Who would listen?

"I remember I would ask my pediatrician if he knew of other families that had kids like mine and at that time he didn't know anybody else," Gomez recalled. "I really felt like I was the only one in the world going through this."

Sadly, like Angie, thousands of parents across the country with disabled children experience similar feelings of isolation and fear. Even though she tirelessly searched for services and information on her son's disability, Angie's quest was also focused on connecting with other parents who faced the same challenges and concerns as she did.

"You can say, ‘Yes, I understand,' but if you haven't been through something similar you really don't know what it's like," Gomez said.

Bilingual Rainbow Connection resource center
Then she found the Rainbow Connection.

Serving residents in Ventura County, California, the Rainbow Connection brings families together through their shared experiences. Operating under the Tri-Counties Regional Center, it is a resource center for parents with children with special needs, created in response to the lack of understanding by medical professionals and service providers about families with disabled children.

"The main idea is to listen, to support that person, to empathize with them and let them know that they're not alone," Gomez explained. Thirteen years ago, she experienced for herself this sense of inclusion when she first attended the support groups at the Rainbow Connection and later volunteered her time to help other families. Today, she's the organization's bilingual services coordinator. With Gomez on board, the Rainbow Connection soon began organizing support groups for Spanish-speaking parents. In fact, the majority of the organization's current staff is bilingual.

"This whole system of acquiring services for people with special needs is so complicated, then you add the language barrier and that makes it even harder," Gomez said. "So for these families to able to connect with somebody who can relate to their situation and be there for them to listen, I think that makes such a big difference."

These groups not only offer much-needed support, but also provide parents with valuable information. Parents share their personal experiences, what's worked for them, what hasn't, which agencies they've contacted and what they've learned along the way.

Specific assistance
Currently, Rainbow Connection offers Spanish-language support groups for parents of children diagnosed with autism and Down Syndrome, as well as a Special Families Support Group which is open to parents and family members of children with all types of developmental disabilities. Support groups dealing with specific disabilities are set up depending on the demand for such a group.

The primary reason the Rainbow Connection is so successful at reaching out to families with disabled children is that the entire staff is made up of parents and family members of children and adults with special needs.

"When parents first call, that's what we try to share with them first, that like them, we're also parents," she said. "And then they seem to relax."

This is because most parents expect to speak with doctors, therapists and other professionals when they call for the first time and when they realize they're talking to another parent in a similar circumstance and in their native language, a new level of understanding is reached, according to Gomez.

Wide range of topics & types of interactions
In addition to the support groups, several Spanish-language workshops and presentations are held every month on a variety of topics ranging from speech pathology to special education to yoga. All are free and open to the public.

One of the more successful events at Rainbow Connection, particularly with Spanish-speaking families, is "Family Recreation Night" which brings together parents, children with disabilities and their siblings for an evening of interaction and activities.

"It's good for these children and their siblings to acknowledge that they're not alone and that there are other kids their age that have special needs or have siblings with special needs and they see that they're doing okay, so maybe they'll be okay, too," Gomez explained.

Resource library, but little in Spanish
A resource library with over 4,000 reference materials is also available to these families. This includes books, videos and audio tapes, information packets, resource directories, and Internet access. However, the selection of Spanish-language books and other materials is limited due to the scarce resources available in this language.

"We try to focus on trying to help the parents help themselves," Gomez said. "Our Spanish-speaking families are so grateful for anything you can give them or help them with."

Still, not only has Gomez been a source of support for other parents with disabled children, she has, in turn, learned so much from these families that the Rainbow Connection has become her source of strength.

"This has been what has helped me keep going through my ups and downs, too," Gomez said. "All the parents try to support each other. And all the training that I've received has not only helped me help others, but myself as well."

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