Friendship Circle Gift Enables Cleveland Girl to Find Her Voice

From Cleveland Jewish News:

An iPad that allows her to express herself verbally is giving a voice to Jordyn Zimmerman, and now she hopes to reach out to others with special needs.

An inspiring talk by Zimmerman, who graduated May 28 from Mentor High School, highlighted “Giving Voice,” Friendship Circle of Cleveland’s annual awards reception and dinner, before nearly 900 people June 6 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, OH.

Zimmerman, who has nonverbal autism, spoke about the challenges she faced growing up and how she changed schools multiple times.

“I was miserable,” she said through an iPad with a voice application that speaks for her after she types the words. “I had very limited communication skills, and I spent most days extremely frustrated.

“But when I would walk through the doors of Friendship Circle, it was one of my favorite things. It was like walking into a giant hug, and that was exactly what I needed.”

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