Kate Chapple was born on the 4th of July. Despite having a physical disability, she was determined to follow the same path as her sisters: going to college, living independently and having a successful career. With the guidance from an independent living program, she moved to San Antonio to live by herself in a wheelchair accessible apartment where she attended the University of San Antonio and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education.

She has extensive knowledge of working with people who have disabilities, including experience working at non-profits and the Austin Independent School District.  She was the go-to person when there were questions about programs related for people with disabilities such as Medicaid, waiver programs, and funding sources such as SSI/SSDI.  As an Assistive Technology Teaching Assistant with AISD, one of her favorite responsibilities was being a mentor for students who had developmental disabilities.  As a mentor she traveled to different schools district-wide and met with students to empower them to have high expectations, let dreams become reality and never lose sight of desired outcomes.

Kate has always had a passion for helping others, and with her current job working as an advocate for families of kids with disabilities, she’s doing that and much more. She advocated for them during ARD meetings, which are meetings that are typically held annually to discuss with teachers, support staff, and the family to discuss the student’s goals, accomplishments, weakness, etc. Her role in these meetings is to support the student/families. In order to be successful and best serve students, she keeps up to date on special education laws and statutes.

Kate Chapple 

Advocate for National ARDs www.nard.org, http://www.narda.org/about-us.html

katemay.512@gmail.com

https://kateindependentfirecracker.wordpress.com/

YouTube:Kathryn Chapple