“I have a cousin who has autism, and he and I had a very unique bond when we were growing up,” Webb recalled.
Because of this, she decided to volunteer at her cousin’s summer camp.
“I found out through volunteering that I also had similar connections with other children with special needs,” she said. “And it really just kind of put a desire in my heart to serve them.”
Webb was interested in occupational therapy (OT) and law school “from a young age” but ultimately decided on OT because she “wanted to have a more hands-on impact with the children.”
But after practicing in a sensory integration clinic in California for three years, she realized she wasn’t making “the impact … that I wanted to make.”
Webb would advocate for the kids as their therapist, attending meetings and trying to communicate their needs to the schools. But she lacked legal training.
“And so I went to law school,” Webb said. “I uprooted my life. I moved across the country.”
She said the decision would have been hard to make without her faith guiding her.
“I loved my occupational therapy job,” she recalled. “I was so happy there … But I felt such a strong desire for justice and just a strong calling that I had to respond,” she said.
Shaped by faith
Webb, one of six children, says that being Catholic has “shaped” her.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
“From a Catholic perspective, we’re called to serve those in need. We also have to protect them and do justice for them,” she said, adding: “I think being Catholic and very purposefully trying to discern God’s will for my life opened me to these experiences and undoubtedly led me to the work I’m doing now.”
Webb says she’s “very grateful to Notre Dame” and “the local community, who is inviting us into this very intimate, personal aspect of their lives.”
“It’s very humbling to be allowed to witness what is going on in their lives and serve them in this capacity,” she said of the families who work with them.
“I really am hopeful that we’re able to serve these families and provide justice and peace and support to their families and their children so that they don’t have to shoulder the burden alone anymore,” she continued.
Webb says that South Bend, Indiana — the city where Notre Dame is based — didn’t have the resources parents need for their children’s special education.
Credit: Source link
