Amy Chally
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Seeing the good

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in the trials of life.

Donka Newsletter August 2017

8/4/2017

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Several months ago, Donka contacted me and asked if they could share my story. For those who don't know Donka, they're a non-profit organization that provides computer training and job readiness services to persons with physical, visual and limited learning disabilities. Through the use of computers and assistive technology, our clients become more self-sufficient and independent members of the community. I was once a student of theirs:
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Chally Appears on Opening Bell with Steve Grzanich

6/6/2017

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Today, my interview on Opening Bell aired. I only hope that Steve got to ask all his questions. Those who know me know I like to talk, but I must have been nervous because every time he asked me a question I ran away with it.  Anyway, as I share on my home page,  I  still feel strongly that I am supposed to use my experiences to educate others, to be an encouragement and a beacon of hope for other people with disabilities and their families. It is my heart’s desire to help individuals become all they can be, no matter their challenges.  It is my hope that being an author, motivational speaker, and consultant will help me to fulfill my desire while I wait for the perfect employment opportunity within my field.  So if you know of any places or populations that could benefit from hearing my story, the whole story- not just Yazzen's, buy my book and/or invite me to speak!
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Author and Motivational Speaker Chally Named Student Success: Featured Alumnus

10/19/2016

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Heidy Kindelin, Counselor/ Assoc. Professor, Access Center for Students w/Disabilities, me & Julie Peck, Administrative Specialist Enrollment Management
​This began on Sept. 27th when I received a call telling me I'd been nominated and my presence requested at the board meeting on Oct. 19th. Once I knew I could attend I was contacted for an interview and photos for the press release, which read:
 
Waubonsee Community College alumnus Amy Chally has faced many challenges over her lifetime but has persevered to turn those challenges into an opportunity to help and motivate others. Chally was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy that causes her muscles to be constantly tight and contracted, making it a struggle to move or control movements in her arms and legs.  While she can walk with a walker, Chally uses a power chair and service dog for greater independence and mobility in her daily life.
Today, Chally is an author, motivational speaker and social worker seeking the right opportunity for her next career move. She recently worked with students at Geneva Middle School North, substituting for the social worker on maternity leave, where she said she had an amazing experience with the staff and kids. But when that temporary assignment ended, Chally wasn’t going to just sit by and wait for what’s next and has launched a new career as an author and motivational speaker. “I am a social worker by trade but I have struggled on and off to find permanent employment in the years since I graduated,” she said. “So now I am trying to start a second career as an author and motivational speaker while I wait to find my niche in social work.”
Chally recently published “Making Independence Happen, One Paw at a Time,” a two-part memoir told from two very different perspectives. Part one is her first service dog Yazzen’s adventurous tale of his journey from a tiny pup to her invaluable partner in life. Part two is her story, about how she got started on her journey of receiving a service dog and also “how courage, faith and love helped me get through the obstacles I face in life.”  Her beloved service dog Yazzen passed away in 2014 and she currently has a new companion, Portland.
For her perseverance, desire to help others and can-do attitude, Waubonsee is proud to recognize Chally as a Student Success: Featured Alumnus. During her time at Waubonsee, Chally was a Gustafson Scholar and said she enjoyed the community service and other requirements necessary as part of that scholarship.  She said that the staff at the Access Center were helpful and remembers a number of instructors like Dr. Murphy in psychology and Sara Quirk in English.
After graduating from Waubonsee, Chally continued her education at Aurora University, earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.  She was drawn to the field after an encounter with a social worker at the age of 13. A social worker approached Chally and asked if she needed to talk to her regarding my upcoming surgery. When the social worker said that Chally could talk to her because she knew what it was like to be her even though the social worker had no visible sign of disability, she realized that she wanted to go into social work to help other individuals with disabilities. “I wanted to be able to use my experiences to help them, not because I knew what it was like to be them, but because I knew what it was like to be me as a person with a disability.”
 In addition to her book, which is available for purchase on Create Space, Barnes and Noble and Amazon, Chally is serving as a motivational speaker for a broad range of audiences.  She has focused on school assemblies, employee training, and disability awareness education. “I have been both a keynote speaker and a panelist at diversity/disability awareness events and have spoken to parents, teachers, and special education majors about the benefits of inclusion at local schools,” she said.
 Outside of work, Chally enjoys going to the gym, spending time with her family and her Canine Companions for Independence service dog Portland. Chally is driven to succeed by her faith and passion for helping others be all they can be.  For future Waubonsee students, she has one simple piece of advice. “Follow your heart, believe in yourself, and don't ever give up on your passion,” she said...
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Tonight with my small entourage (which included my parents and a few staff from the college) by my side, Mr. Dickson, Chair of the Board of Trustees presented me with a certificate of recognition. I thanked the board for the honor and shared how I've always had a desire to help others. I also shared how difficult it has been to find a job as a social worker, but how I've used this detour in my life to write my book. I told them what it's about and where they could buy it.
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Social Worker Author and Motivational Speaker Chally Guest on WSPY Fox Valley Today

10/19/2016

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I was a guest on WSPY TV 30's Fox Valley Today with Anne Vickery. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This year's theme was inclusion. It's hard to feel included in the workforce when I've been unemployed longer than I've been working. That's why WSPY and Anne thought it was important for their listeners and viewers to hear my story. The first half of this segment discusses my educational and work history,
As you'll hear, I received my Master’s Degree in Social Work from Aurora University in 2006 (graduating summa cum laude).  I am a Licensed Social Worker with my Type 73 in School Social Work and I've got valuable skills worth mentioning. 
​First, for clients on the autism spectrum, I have knowledge and experience writing social stories. I also have first-hand knowledge and experience linking clients who have special needs with information and resources with regard to transportation, adaptive equipment, home health equipment or other community resources available in the area that they may need.  In addition to working in the schools, I have experience in the mental health field. In these environments, I gained knowledge and experience in facilitating different treatment groups, working as a member of a larger treatment team, as well as providing case management and individual counseling.  
Yes it's true that I don't have a driver's license, but I am confident that this will not prevent me from performing the essential functions of a position with or without an accommodation, should I be given the opportunity. My personal and professional experience working with individuals diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders makes me a uniquely qualified candidate for employment.
In second half of the segment we discuss what my book is about and also the important work of Canine Companions for Independence. In addition to trying to find a job as a social worker and writing my book, I also do motivational speaking. Therefore, I'm interested in sharing my story with local libraries, schools, boy scouts, girl scouts, women's groups, churches etc. in Kendall, Kane and DuPage Co. If you'd like me to speak at a location near you, please e-mail me. Thanks!



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Aurora woman with cerebral palsy lives 'to help people'

5/22/2016

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Amy Chally, a social worker with cerebral palsy, and her service dog Portland have been working with children at Geneva Middle School North. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News)
By Denise Crosby
Amy Chally just wants to be normal. Still.
"Normal," as we all know, is a subjective word. In her case, it means being a productive member of society — going to a job she enjoys, working hard, helping others. Yes, even having that husband, kids and white picket fence, although the latter is optional.
Of course, Chally, born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, knows her body is not like most people's.
With muscles that are constantly tight and contracted, she struggles to move or control the movements in her arms and legs. In addition to using a wheelchair, she deals with a speech impediment and body twitches because — as she describes it — those muscles "don't always do what I want them to do."
Which is why she's had to strive that much harder for normalcy all her life.
"Amy was always independent, always determined," said her mother, Vicki, who's justifiably proud of the fact her daughter was toilet-trained at age 2, despite her disability.
"But that's just the way we decided we were going to raise her because I did not want to be changing her diapers the rest of my life."
This candidness and easy humor — not to mention strong will — in both Chally women is probably another reason Amy Chally, who will turn 35 in June, has managed to attain so many of a young woman's so-called normal goals.
We first wrote about Chally — who lives with her parents on the far West Side of Aurora — in May 1999 when she was a 17-year-old Plano High School student attending her first prom.
Vicki Chally and her husband, Darrell, fought for years with the school district to include their daughter, who was the first student at Plano to be mainstreamed back when the battle for inclusion was still raging, The Beacon-News reported.
For Amy Chally, it was a godsend, as the school in Joliet she attended prior to being mainstreamed meant a 55-minute bus ride each way and a classroom where only a handful of students could even talk.
And Chally is verbal, to say the least. She's also bright. The brain bleed that likely led to her disability at birth or soon after did not affect her IQ. Not only was she inducted into the National Honor Society as a Plano senior, she graduated summa cum laude from Aurora University, eventually earning a master's degree in social work in 2006.
In 1999, Elliott Lenoff, director of the Kendall County Special Education Cooperative, described Chally as the most successful inclusion student he could remember in his 20 years with the county.
But excelling in the workforce has presented its share of frustrations. Chally, who even in high school dreamed of working with disabled children, has been laid off from jobs because of budget cuts, including with, ironically enough, the Kendall County Special Education Cooperative in 2010, and AIM Center for Independent Living in June 2015.
Chally also believes she gets passed over for positions because the job description requires a driver's license for home visits and, in many schools, training in crisis prevention intervention, which she is unable to obtain due to limited use of her limbs.
While there are vehicles available with adaptive equipment, it's her startle reflex and eye tracking that keep her from obtaining a driver's license, she noted.
Chally also gets frustrated because, despite progress made in laws that mandate equality for people with disabilities, she still runs into prejudices. Even adults, she said, "see the chair instead of the person."
"Just because I can't walk doesn't mean I can't see or talk," she added.
Since April, Chally has been substituting for the social worker on maternity leave at Geneva Middle School North, but that job will come to an end this week. And that's when the tough-as-nails Chally becomes wrought with emotion.
"I love working with these kids so much, and it's such a great staff," she said, tears welling in her large, expressive eyes. "I'm so thankful to be there, and it just breaks my heart I'm going to be leaving soon."
Ashley Weltler, dean of students at the middle school, says the feeling is mutual
"Amy jumped right in and did not skip a beat," she said of the temporary position. "The way she connected with students is phenomenal. She has such insight, and she's bound and determined to make a difference."
You can't help kids, Chally insisted, when you are sitting at home.
That's why, when she was out of work from June until she began working at Geneva Middle School North in April, she wrote a book, "Making Independence Happen, One Paw At a Time," about her disability and her relationship with her beloved service dog Yazzen, who died in 2014 from cancer. Her current dog, Portland, Weltler told me, is "a big asset" in working with the kids.
The book, an easy read at only 36 pages and available on Amazon.com, is filled with the candor, humor and determination that has always defined Chally's refusal to let anything stand in the way of her goals.
"God has me in this position for a reason," she said of her disability. "I'm supposed to help people. … So OK, God, let me get on with doing just that."
Because she's been in the shoes of children with disabilities, Chally is convinced she can show them by example that it is indeed possible to find success and in doing so to attain normalcy.
All her life, said Vicki Chally, her daughter has "had to work harder to prove herself."
"Am I really good enough?" Amy Chally said. "That is the question I'm always asking."
For Weltler, who has gotten to know that can-do spirit well these last weeks of the school year, a four-word answer is all that is needed.
"Look at her now," she said.
dcrosby@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2016, Aurora Beacon-News
Amy Chally, a social worker with cerebral palsy, and her service dog Portland have been working with children at Geneva Middle School North. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News)
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