Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC TN UCEDD) Launching Tennessee Adult Brothers and Sisters (TABS)

July 21, 2008

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC TN UCEDD) Launching Tennessee Adult Brothers and Sisters (TABS). The founding meeting of TABS was held during the 2008 Tennessee Disability MegaConference and was met with great success and support. The group for adult siblings of individuals with disabilities is coordinated by Ashley Coulter, Program Coordinator for Community Outreach & Training at the VKC UCEDD's Tennessee Disability Pathfinder. "Establishing TABS is an important step," said Coulter. "The need for support does not go away just because you get older. Sibling support type programs exist for younger people, but before TABS there was nothing in Tennessee to provide an outlet of support for adult siblings of individuals with disabilities." Coulter, a sibling herself, currently is collaborating with other state partners including the University of Tennessee Boling Center (TN UCEDD), on a TABS conference to be held at the VKC UCEDD in April 2009.