Home Training Conferences AAC Talks 2025 AAC Talks 2025—AAC Without Limits: Voices, Stories, and Possibilities Keynote—From the NICU to the Global Stage: A Family’s Fearless Mission to Empower Others
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Keynote—From the NICU to the Global Stage: A Family’s Fearless Mission to Empower Others

Speakers: Delaina Parrish, Tricia Parrish, and Ali Crisp

Session Description:
This unique and dynamic “Mother-Daughters” team of storytellers blends the perspectives of a pediatric physical therapist, a skilled marketer and parent-advocate, and a young entrepreneur with CP. With humor and candor, they invite families, educators, therapists, and team supporters to engage in a personal story of how “whole person support” can lead a person with complex challenges from the NICU to the Global Stage of advocacy and identity empowerment…all while utilizing AAC as the spoken word.
Attendees will journey with Fearless Independence through the most amazing opportunities that have shaped their lives and careers. Topics cover adaptive fashion, personal care assistance at different life stages, universal design and innovation, recreation, therapist relationships, employment empowerment, celebrity mentorship, peer friendship, and even loneliness. In the end, we promise that every attendee will be challenged to imagine the power of possibility!

Objectives:
  • Explain how to empower clients and students with potential based on continuity of "whole person support" while meeting long-term goals.
  • Identify key factors that facilitate successful communication for individuals using AAC, including environmental considerations and strategies for engaging with peers, family members, and community members.
  • Examine the importance of self-advocacy and collaboration among families, therapists, and educators to enhance AAC implementation and support the social inclusion of individuals with disabilities in various settings.
Speaker Bios:
Presenter Delania Parrish smilingDelaina Parrish is a Florida native and a 2020 Business School (Marketing) graduate from the University of Florida, with an emphasis on retailing and entrepreneurship. As a multi-dimensional influencer with Cerebral Palsy, she leverages her voice on statewide, national, and global platforms to break down barriers for the disability community and their allies. Her TEDxUF talk achieved global affirmation by motivating corporations to be “Fearless in Disability Inclusion.” By combining her lived experience with her education, Delaina lives to challenge convention for the betterment of society and business. 

Presenter Tricia Parrish smilingTricia Parrish holds a Bachelor of Science degree in advertising from the University of Florida, with over 30 years of experience in corporate communications, public relations, special event planning, and advertising for numerous entities in the Southeastern United States. As a visionary, Tricia founded Eco-Trek, Inc., a non-profit environmental education organization, and eSpecially4You, which serves the disability community in East-Central Florida. Tricia is an active member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.)  International Sisterhood, which is committed to furthering the advancement of women through education. 

Presenter Ali Crisp smilingAli Crisp, DPT, ATP, performs extensive evaluations and treatment at a major Children’s Hospital in Orlando (outpatient) and possesses a broad range of neuro, cardio, orthopedic, trauma, and NICU experience. With specialized training in neurodevelopment, she is uniquely qualified to serve as an adaptive innovator and advisor for Fearless Independence. Most importantly, she lends insight into the social/emotional/physiological dynamics when accessing an experience or utilizing a product. Ali brings collaborations with many key disciplines and expertise with various durable medical equipment.