If it weren't for DORS, I wouldn’t get to be here changing others’ lives.”

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OCTOBER 2023 - Annie's Success Stroy, in her own words:

“We [my family] talk about my DORS story all the time. My mom was very supportive when I was in school and when I was a senior in high school, my grandfather always attended my IEP meetings.

I was so done with high school and ready to go to college. But my school counselor encouraged me to meet with a DORS counselor, so I went along with it and met with a counselor named Sarah.

She told me that I qualified for DORS services. We talked about all the things that I have struggled with my whole life, and she explained how DORS could help me with college.

DORS helped me with college more than I ever knew, helping me introduce my disability to my professors… just having another support [the counselor], other than my mom, was amazing.

In my sophomore year I got into the speech pathologist program at Towson. Right off the bat [in the program] my struggles began…the part of my brain where my disability is affected my ability to be successful in the program.

But the good people in my life let me believe in myself. I [eventually] met with my old school counselor and she pointed out that I was doing things in high school that were the kinds of things a school counselor would do. She told me that I already knew what I wanted to do.

At that point, from when I changed my major [to school counseling], I began enjoying my college experience! DORS helped me financially and emotionally and having that third person’s support was amazing.

I now work as an elementary school counselor in Dorchester County. I have talked with [colleagues] about my experience [as a person with a disability] and I have been able to educate the entire staff about what DORS does.

We talk about it all the time: DORS changed my life. If it weren't for DORS, I wouldn’t get to be here changing others’ lives.”