Dear editor:
Abilities Unlimited recently hosted a Reality Fair on our campus for nine participating school districts. The event was sponsored and created by Diamond Lakes Federal Credit Union, who partnered with us to offer a transition experience to special needs students by offering them an active experience creating an awareness of realistic living expenses and money management upon achieving independence after graduation.
The event assigns each participant an identity that comes with an occupation, salary and taxes which the participant should take into account when they visit stations that will offer them estimated living expenses for their choices. The goal is to create a realistic monthly budget that covers their expenses, shows them how to save, give and prepare for emergencies by prioritizing their needs and perhaps sacrificing their wants.
Each student visits 15 stations where they choose from estimated package prices of goods and services that represent monthly expenses, such as housing, utilities, cable, food consumption, transportation, insurance, pets, salon/spa visits and others. The concluding station is a stop with a budget counselor who helps them decipher their choices to ensure they are living within the means of their simulated circumstances. Hopefully, they will be motivated to make life choices that fit within their current circumstances and to transfer this life skill when they may be out on their own.
Our staff would like to thank the 20-plus volunteers that made the Reality Fair a huge success. They were so helpful and engaging with the students. Also, we thank the educators that made it possible for their students to have this experience. Abilities Unlimited hopes to make this a biannual event in an effort to give back to the community and support the needs of those who would benefit from this experience.
For any person who may be interested in knowing more about our program services for adults with developmental disabilities, employment support services for youth and adults with qualifying disabilities or transition services for special needs students, please call to inquire, set up a tour (great for schools, clubs, service organizations, etc.), or visit our website and Facebook page. We enjoy sharing what we have been privileged to offer the Hot Springs community and surrounding areas as a nonprofit since 1961.
Lynn Hargis
WAC/school coordinator
Abilities Unlimited of Hot Springs, Ark., Inc.
501-767-8400
Editorial on 04/10/2018