Erin Jellel Collins Arsenault was born June 18, 1979 and passed away on July 24, 2010 ~ many years beyond her life expectancy. She was born with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities. She never walked or spoke, and was dependent on others for all life activities. And yet, she lived life fully and embodied total acceptance of life and all that it offers. She demonstrated the gifts that people with disabilities can offer their community if given the chance. We learned early on that there wasn’t anything that Erin couldn’t do – it just needed to be done a little differently.

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When Erin was a few months old and not reaching the normal developmental milestones, we began the painful journey searching for “what’s wrong”. It was difficult thinking that she might not be the “normal” child we were expecting. We tried desperately to “fix her” and watched anxiously for signs of improvement as we sought out specialist after specialist and tried to pour IQ points into her head. During this time we felt increasingly isolated from the rest of the “normal” world. It hurt to watch other children run and play. One day as I was crying over our “loss”, Erin looked at me and laughed. I realized how much I was engulfed by my loss and not who she was. We (her parents) were a little slow, but gradually we learned that rather than looking for what was wrong, we began to discover what was “right”. Looking back now, we realize how blessed we were to have Erin in our lives -- what gifts she brought us and how many lessons we learned. As we began to recognize her value, we also shifted our view of the “normal” world. Within that world is a lot of loneliness, pain, disappointment – all part of life. Erin had much to offer others and we began the journey of building a community around Erin - both for her benefit and those around her.

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We set up this website not only as a way of preserving her memories but we hope it can be an inspiration to others, with and without disabilities. Over the years, we developed some tools (books, videos, activities) that were helpful to us and others. Feel free to use the resources offered here and contact us if we can be of any help For those who knew Erin, we hope you will add your stories so that her contributions can continue.