Imagine you?re on a lifelong journey, but the destination keeps changing. Every time you think you?re on the right path, your GPS reroutes, or you hit a detour, unexpected roadblocks, or traffic. Your ETA keeps changing, and you?re running out of fuel with limited funds and no gas stations in sight. This is what it?s like for families navigating the complex systems that serve children and youth with disabilities. The journey can be long, exhausting, frustrating, and expensive. At ECAC, we help families who have children with disabilities or special healthcare needs find their way. We provide free, individualized assistance and guide families through these challenges by helping them understand and navigate healthcare systems, early intervention, special education, and the transition to adulthood. All of our services to families are at no cost. 

Our mission is to empower families to understand their rights, connect to crucial resources, and provide them with the tools and information to make informed decisions. We help parents become their child?s best and most effective advocates, ensuring their children have access to the support and services they deserve.

In addition to supporting families, ECAC empowers youth with disabilities to advocate for themselves. We offer resources, support, and training to help youth become strong self-advocates, preparing them for meaningful opportunities in the workplace, college, and their communities after high school. Through job exploration counseling, self-advocacy training, financial literacy, and workplace readiness programs, we equip youth with the skills needed to thrive. Our Youth Advisory Teams give young people with disabilities the platform to use their voices and lived experiences to educate others and drive change within systems.

Since 1980, ECAC has been a trusted partner to families across all 100 counties of North Carolina. We provide personalized support at no cost to families, helping them navigate the often overwhelming systems that impact their children?s lives. Our goal is to help every child with disabilities reach their full potential and ensure families are never alone on this lifelong journey.

Your support will help us continue the important work we do!