Board member Christine Porter and family
WAAA board member Christine Porter knows first-hand the difficulties of getting insurance coverage for recommended autism therapies and the challenges of navigating the special education system. With two children on the autism spectrum, although Christine was a practicing civil rights and disability law attorney herself, with a personal, emotional stake in the outcomes for her family, she recognizes her own struggles maneuvering the system on behalf of her own children.
Early on, Christine attended a WAAA IDEA: Special Education Workshop and was impressed not only by what she learned, but by raves about WAAA from her fellow attendees. Her interest piqued, she connected with WAAA CEO Arzu Forough to learn more about the organization and our mission.
After her second child’s diagnosis, Christine left her legal practice to care for her son full-time and manage his many hours of therapy. As she met more and more parents who were stuck on long waitlists, she was stuck by the disparities and recognized her good fortune of being included as part of an early intervention study providing ABA therapy and parent training at the UW Autism Center.
Arzu approached Christine to volunteer with WAAA to help build the Special Education Advocacy program to address the extreme scarcity of free or low cost special education resources available to parents in Washington state. Armed with both passion and knowledge, Christine stepped in to help families understand their rights and learn to advocate for their children’s needs. Fully committed to WAAA’s mission, she joined WAAA’s Board of Directors and serves as the co-chair of the education committee. She is an ardent supporter of WAAA’s work and is further inspired by efforts to end the use of restraint and isolation of children in non-emergency situations.
“About a year ago, I spoke with another mom of a child on the autism spectrum,” Christine reflects, “She told me that because of WAAA’s insurance help, they were able to stop paying high out-of-pocket costs. This meant Christmas presents for her children and a house large enough for her kids to play,” Christine explained. “At the time, she did not know of my connection with WAAA. It was incredibly heartwarming.”
Christine notes, “I am consistently inspired by the staff and board members’ tireless efforts to improve the lives of others and to make this world a more inclusive place for children like mine.”