Helping Organizations Turn Family-Centered Values Into Meaningful Practice
Raising Special Needs Inc. is a disability-focused training and consulting company that helps organizations strengthen family engagement, professional practice, and the systems supporting individuals with disabilities.
We partner with schools, universities, healthcare providers, disability-serving agencies, nonprofits, government and community programs, and other organizations seeking to build more responsive, inclusive, and family-informed services.
Our work positions lived experience as a source of organizational insight and interdisciplinary collaboration as part of the methodology for designing stronger programs, services, and interventions.
Through customized training, consultation, workshops, conference presentations, and parent education programs, we help organizations better understand the human realities behind the policies, plans, and professional recommendations that shape people's lives.
By bringing professional expertise and family knowledge into closer alignment, we help organizations communicate more effectively, build stronger partnerships, and deliver services that respond to the needs of the whole person and family.
Our Story
Raising Special Needs Inc. was established in 2021, building on more than two decades of disability leadership, family education, professional training, and systems advocacy led by founder Christine Staple Ebanks.
The work began in Jamaica through the Nathan Ebanks Foundation, where Christine collaborated with government agencies, served on the National Disability Advisory Board, and developed national programs, disability inclusion initiatives, and conferences supporting children with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who served them.
Today, Raising Special Needs Inc. brings that depth of experience to organizations in the United States and beyond. We use the lived experiences of children and individuals with disabilities and their families to help organizations understand how policies, programs, professional recommendations, and interventions are experienced in daily life.
While systems and service environments may differ, the central need remains the same: to connect professional expertise with lived experience so that organizations can develop stronger programs, make more informed decisions, and provide support that works more meaningfully in people's lives.
Christine Staple Ebanks, MS
Organizational Consultant, Speaker, Author & Disability Advocate
Education
MS, Human Services — Leadership & Organizational Management
Experience
20+ years in disability leadership, family education & systems advocacy
Training
3,000+ hours of professional development & specialized training
Conferences
7 national disability & special education conferences (2009–2019)
Published Works
Author of 8 books, including a 2024 International Impact Book Award recipient
About Our Founder
Christine Staple Ebanks, MS, is an organizational consultant, speaker, author, parent educator, and disability advocate with more than two decades of experience across disability, education, family engagement, and organizational leadership.
She holds a Master of Science in Human Services with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Management. Her academic work focused on disability systems, family-centered practice, leadership, and the experiences of individuals and families navigating complex systems.
Christine has completed more than 3,000 hours of professional development and specialized training in areas including disability support, child and brain development, mobility, advocacy, inclusion, and the MOVE Program. Between 2009 and 2019, she organized seven national disability and special education conferences that brought families together with professionals from education, healthcare, therapy, social services, government, and disability advocacy.
She is also the author of eight books, including Raising Nathan Against All Odds, recipient of a 2024 International Impact Book Award.
Our Distinctive Contribution
Making the Hidden Curriculum Visible
Families and professionals are often expected to understand systems, terminology, expectations, responsibilities, and power dynamics that have never been explained plainly.
This is the hidden curriculum of disability systems.
It influences whether families understand how to participate, whether professionals recognize the knowledge families bring, and whether services become genuine partnerships or remain disconnected processes.
Raising Special Needs Inc. helps organizations make that hidden curriculum visible. We identify the gaps between what professionals know, what families are expected to know, and what both need to understand to work together more effectively.
Our Approach
Our work is grounded in a simple but important principle: professional expertise and family knowledge are both necessary. A professional may enter a person's life through one area of need, but the individual and family must carry recommendations, services, and decisions into the whole of their lives.
Our Core Mission
Our mission is to strengthen the systems surrounding individuals with disabilities by educating, equipping, and empowering the families, professionals, and organizations that support them.
We Educate. We Equip. We Empower.
Our Values
Love
We recognize the humanity, dignity, and worth of every individual.
Empathy
We seek to understand the realities individuals, families, and professionals are carrying.
Family
We recognize families as essential partners whose knowledge and experience matter.
Relationships
We believe meaningful change is built through trust, communication, and collaboration.
Advocacy
We support informed participation in the decisions that shape people's lives.
Empowerment
We provide practical knowledge, tools, and support that help people and organizations move forward with greater confidence and clarity.
Faith
We believe every life has value, purpose, and possibility.
Our Brand Ecosystem
Raising Special Needs Inc. is the corporate umbrella for an interconnected body of work serving organizations, professionals, and families.
Raising Special Needs Inc. Consulting
Works with organizations through consulting, professional development, customized training, workshops, conference presentations, and parent education programs.
Special Needs Mama Bear®
The consumer-facing division that extends the work directly to parents and caregivers through education, practical tools, resources, and community.
Together, these areas allow us to strengthen both sides of the family-professional relationship by equipping families to participate more confidently and helping organizations build more responsive ways of working with them.
Partner With Us
If your organization is strengthening family engagement, developing a parent education program, planning a conference, training professionals, or examining how its services are experienced by individuals and families, Raising Special Needs Inc. can help.
Let us design a training, consultation, or educational experience around the needs of your organization and the people you serve.
Request a Consultation