Mireya Ramirez Mireya is the mother of Christy, an Early Start SCLARC consumer, who has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Mrs. Ramirez has been extremely active since coming into the regional center system - not only as an advocate for her daughter, but for all the families SCLARC represents. She eloquently spoke on behalf of the agency at the 2005 Grassroots Day held in Sacramento where we talked about the importance of keeping regional center services in place as well as how the regional center has positively impacted her and Christy's lives.
	"Before I came to regional center, I was depressed because I didn't know where to get answers. I felt helpless. But once my daughter had a diagnosis and I went through the parent orientation, I felt better because I knew how to help Christy." Mireya explains. She has been an FRC volunteer since October, 19, 2004 and an FRC Advisory Board Member since January 2005. Mireya was also a presenter at the last year's Bilingual Fiesta Educative Conference and hopes to continue her advocacy work by representing SCLARC at various community organizations and parent groups.