Join FOP community member Laura Rossano in conversation during one of our Sunday small group discussion sessions to learn more about navigating the career journey with FOP.

A Message from Laura

Hi! For those of you who don’t know me, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Laura Rossano and I’m 33 years old. I live in New York with my husband.

My journey with FOP started about 30 years ago. It has been a bumpy road at times, but I like to think I made it through! Navigating college was definitely a challenge, but with trial and error (and lots of help from family), I made it through both undergraduate and graduate school with high honors and now work in my field as a lead Vocational Evaluator. I do 7 to10 day vocational evaluations for young adults between the ages of 18-26. Over the 7 to 10 days, I do a mix of hands-on, academic and situational assessments for students who have varying forms of disabilities. I then collect all of the data and one-on-one interviews to help develop a plan for their future. 

Over the years, I’ve learned to embrace FOP and have allowed it to be a part of my life,. but most certainly not my life. It has caused me to do life and my job very differently, but different isn’t always a bad thing. 

For the Family Gathering this year, I am planning on managing a “zoom room,” on advocacy, college and seeking and maintaining employment. I think it is important for either young adults with FOP, parents or caregivers to enter this open and honest forum to ask questions, listen and see that college and employment IS possible.

In order to make the room as successful as possible, I’m going to turn it over to you. What do YOU want to hear the most about. Advocacy? College? Graduate school? Job interviews? Maintaining employment? If you could rank them in level of importance to you, I’d really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts in this brief survey! I’m looking forward to seeing all of you very soon! 

Thank you! 

Laura