Meet Evelyn Herrington

My Story. My Calling. My Purpose.

I created Disability Solutions, LLC because I know, both personally and professionally, how profoundly disability can shape every part of a person's life.

My work is not simply theoretical. It comes from lived experience, decades of navigating complex systems, and a lifelong journey with cerebral palsy that has touched my identity, relationships, career, motherhood, and faith.

I understand that disability is never just about a diagnosis. It can affect an entire family, influence relationships, create financial and emotional challenges, and change the way we see ourselves and our futures.

My experiences have shaped who I am, the work I do, and my commitment to helping others navigate disability with greater clarity, compassion, and confidence.

Growing Up With Cerebral Palsy

I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at just 18 months old.

My childhood was marked by surgeries, extended hospital stays, and summers spent recovering instead of playing. I remember the loneliness of hospital rooms, missing my sisters, and feeling guilty because my disability affected their childhood, too.

My parents traveled with me for surgeries, and the financial and emotional strain affected our entire family. Even as a child, I began to understand that disability doesn't affect only one person. Its impact reaches into relationships, finances, routines, opportunities, and family life.

Growing up, I also learned what it meant to be stared at, underestimated, and excluded.

Leg braces, painful orthopedic shoes, and physical limitations shaped how I saw myself and how others perceived me. I encountered stereotypes and implicit biases in school and later in employment, even within the vocational rehabilitation system, where understanding and support should have been available.

Over time, I internalized feelings of guilt and shame. I sometimes denied my own needs, avoiding orthotics and medical care because I felt I was "too expensive" or "too much."

Those experiences stayed with me. They also helped me understand how stigma, inaccessible systems, and the attitudes of others can influence a person's identity, confidence, and willingness to seek support.

Disability, Relationships, and Finding My Way Forward

Disability also affected my marriage in ways I didn't fully understand at the time.

Chronic pain, fatigue, and physical limitations influenced intimacy, communication, and emotional connection. Without the support or counseling we needed, the strain became increasingly difficult, and my marriage eventually ended.

It was one of the hardest seasons of my life.

Yet that painful chapter also became the beginning of an important transformation.

After my divorce, I began pursuing healing, education, and a renewed sense of purpose. I wanted to better understand the emotional and relational experiences that accompany disability, not only for myself but also for others facing similar challenges.

I came to recognize how deeply disability can influence our sense of worth, our relationships, and our hopes for the future.

I also discovered that the experiences I had once viewed primarily as limitations could help me connect with people who needed to feel heard, understood, and respected.

Turning Lived Experience Into Professional Purpose

My personal experiences helped shape the direction of my education and professional career.

I earned a graduate degree in Organizational Human Resource Development, along with certificates in conflict resolution and mediation. While working full-time, I also completed a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

My professional journey included serving as a vocational counselor for individuals who were blind or visually impaired, earning my Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) credential, and moving into private practice with a focus on trauma-informed counseling for individuals experiencing chronic or acute disabilities.

My education and professional training have also included vocational rehabilitation, adjustment to disability, chronic illness, trauma-informed care, attachment-based approaches, mediation, and major life transitions.

But my understanding of disability comes from more than professional education.

I relate to the people I serve not only because I have studied disability, but because I have lived it.

I know what it means to navigate inaccessible environments, feel misunderstood, fight for accommodations, and grieve the dreams and opportunities that disability may change.

I also understand the importance of compassionate professionals, accessible resources, meaningful relationships, and having a voice in decisions that affect your life.

Living With Disability Through Every Season of Life

My journey with cerebral palsy has continued to evolve throughout adulthood.

I know what it means to face difficult medical decisions and live with their long-term consequences. Following knee replacement surgeries, I became a permanent wheelchair user.

That experience brought another profound adjustment.

I have grieved some of the dreams I held as a mother and grandmother. The simple experiences of running, playing, lifting, helping, and physically supporting the people I love have not always been possible in the ways I imagined.

There is an emotional weight to those losses that can be difficult to explain to someone who hasn't experienced them.

Disability can change our bodies, our daily routines, our independence, and even the roles we imagined ourselves fulfilling within our families.

But my experiences have also taught me compassion, resilience, creativity, and faith.

I have learned that adjusting to disability is not a single event. It is an ongoing journey that can involve grief, acceptance, adaptation, hope, and discovering new possibilities.

Every person's journey is different, and everyone deserves the opportunity to navigate those changes with dignity and meaningful support.

My Faith and the Heart Behind Disability Solutions, LLC

As a Christian, my faith is an important part of who I am and why I feel called to this work.

My heart is filled with compassion for individuals and families navigating physical disabilities, mental health challenges, chronic illness, and acute conditions.

I believe every person deserves dignity, belonging, meaningful relationships, and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.

I believe in the power of community, advocacy, and innovation. And I believe that meaningful change becomes possible when people with disabilities, families, counselors, healthcare providers, employers, and assistive technology developers work together.

No single person or organization has every answer.

But by listening to people with lived disability experience, respecting their choices, and connecting them with appropriate information and resources, we can begin removing barriers that too often stand in their way.

The principle "Nothing About Us Without Us" is central to that belief.

People with disabilities deserve to be active participants in decisions about their lives, supports, care, opportunities, and future.

Why I Founded Disability Solutions, LLC

I created Disability Solutions, LLC because I don't want anyone to feel they must navigate disability alone.

I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to search for answers, understand complicated systems, advocate for accommodations, find appropriate support, and make decisions that affect your future.

I also know how powerful it can be when someone listens, understands, and helps you see that options and opportunities may still exist.

Through Disability Solutions, LLC, my goal is to help individuals and families better understand their needs, identify barriers, explore available resources, and connect with meaningful support.

My deepest hope and prayer is to help remove stigma, reduce barriers, restore hope, and encourage people to pursue lives filled with purpose, connection, dignity, and possibility.

This is my story. This is my calling. This is why Disability Solutions, LLC exists.