PEGI MORTON YOUNG was still quite young when she gave birth to a little boy with severe cerebral palsy. While still adjusting to this new and difficult mothering role, she was diagnosed as having an “arterio-venus malformation,” (in layman’s terms, a malformation of blood vessels – a congenital birth defect) and needing brain surgery. She weathered these difficult years, remaining cheerful and giving to those around her. Believing that “Just because they don’t talk, doesn’t mean they don’t think,” in 1986, she became one of the three co-founders of the Bridge School, an innovative educational program for children with severe speech and physical impairments which encourages and enables its students to access curriculum through the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. The Bridge School was certified by the California State Department of Education as a non-public school, receiving praise for its outstanding program. She served as unpaid director of the school for six years and remains active as President of its Board of Directors. She is involved in many community projects, including the school activities of her son and daughter, as her nominator says. “She is always the first to volunteer for a project that needs to be done.”
