Embracing Life: The Story of Miss T · 4 minutes · Courtesy of EITAS.org
Kids Rare Care™ · A plan, not a prognosis
Help your young adult with a disability build a life of their own.
Tina Jackson was told her daughter wouldn't survive. Thirty-one years later, Miss T lives in her own home with support, works, and shares the keynote stage with her mom. This is the plan that got them there.
"I'm not going to tell you this is easy. I'm going to tell you it's possible, because I watched it happen." Tina
Organizations Tina has worked with, trained, or been featured by
Miss T today
She packed her own suitcases and put them by the door.
Tina wasn't ready. Miss T was. Today Tionna, known to everyone as Miss T, lives in her own home with support. She's worked at McAlister's Deli and McDonald's, volunteered at a library, a salon, and a senior community, earned her food service certification and CPR, and graduated from Project SEARCH at Arkansas Children's Hospital in May 2026. She speaks with her AAC device, and in 2015 she gave Vice President Biden a hug at the White House.
"I loved her well and protected her fiercely. Then I realized love wasn't a plan. So I made one."
Tina, on the day she visited the group home
Tionna "Miss T" Jackson, born 1995 with Trisomy 8 Mosaicism
May 2026Project SEARCH graduate, Arkansas Children's Hospital
31Years of lived experience
25+Years of family advocacy
1 of 30Letters chosen for Suddenly Brave Together
You are not behind
Three moments every mom hits.
Three moments every mom hits.
One plan for all of them.
The diagnosis
You were told what your child can't do.
Tina was told Miss T likely wouldn't survive, and if she did, her life would be short and medically complex.
What Tina teaches: focus on progress, not labels. The prognosis is a starting point, not a ceiling.
The graduation cliff
They're 18. Services end. They're home.
Your young adult wants to work or volunteer, and every program has a waitlist. Tina interviewed hundreds of these families as a Social Security claims specialist.
What Tina teaches: offload tasks to your young adult and to organizations, one at a time, starting now.
The question you don't say out loud
What happens to my child when I'm gone?
Tina saw the answer on a wall of family portraits in a group home and decided Miss T would have a plan, not an emergency.
What Tina teaches: build independence with support while you're still here to guide it.
How it works
Three steps. Start free. Go at your pace.
1
Take the free assessment
Ten questions, five minutes. You get a result and the one next step Tina recommends for where you are.
Start here →2
Join a workshop
One hour on Zoom with Tina. Learn what can be offloaded this week and leave with a plan for it. $27.
Next one: Sept 24 →3
Walk the Bridge with Tina
Offloading (45 days) or the B3 Greater Independence Bridge (12 weeks, one on one). By application.
Apply →
The B3 Greater Independence Bridge™
Believe. Build. Become.
The framework Tina used to walk Miss T from a NICU prognosis to her own front door. Greater independence doesn't mean doing everything alone. It means doing more where possible, and having the right support where needed.
Believe
See greater possibilitiesIdentify your young adult's strengths, abilities, preferences, and voice, and what becomes possible with the right support. The question underneath it all: what have we assumed they can't do that we haven't given them the chance to try?
Build
Build capacity and supportDevelop the skills, people, resources, routines, and technology around your young adult, so their life runs on a system instead of running on you.
Become
Move toward greater independenceIncrease their voice, choice, participation, and responsibility. You move from the person who manages everything to the guide who supports their decisions.
Live on Zoom · Thursday, September 24
Are You Ready to Increase Your Mom Capacity?
Learn how to offload daily tasks, build greater independence in your young adult, strengthen their support system, and expand your own capacity. One hour with Tina.
DateThursday, Sept 24
Time11:00 AM ET · 10:00 AM CT
Length60 min, interactive
WhereZoom · replay included
Your host, Tina Jackson
Three ways to work with Tina
Start where you are. Go as far as you want.
From "it works because I do it" to "it works because we built a system."
Start here
Mom Capacity Workshop
$2760 minutes
A live, interactive session on what can safely be offloaded and how to start this week.
- What can safely be offloaded
- Simple steps you can use this week
- Live Q&A with Tina
45 days
Offload Tasks Model™
$99745 days · 3 tasks
"Help me offload what I'm doing." Pick three tasks you're carrying today and run them through Identify, Keep, Teach, Share, Systemize.
- Three specific tasks chosen with you
- What they can learn, what you keep, what gets shared or systemized
- Strategy session, worksheets, check-ins, and a day-45 capacity review
12 weeks
Build the Future™
$2,50012 weeks · 3 life systems
"Help me build the future." A life system is a part of everyday or future life that needs to work on its own. Together you map and strengthen three of them.
- Daily living, transportation, employment, benefits, safety, community, decision-making, support network
- Current reality, greater independence, support, system, action for each
- A written action roadmap for what happens next
What people say
Rooms lean in when Tina talks.
"Tina is a powerful speaker that commands the room and captures your attention!"
"Tina speaks from the heart and is passionate in her delivery and knowledgeable on her topics."
"You cannot control the diagnosis. You cannot control the labels. But you can influence the journey."
Tina and Miss T
Thirty-one years of showing up, in pictures.
A daughter who wasn't expected to survive, and the mom who built her a plan. These are a few of the moments along the way.
With her Project SEARCH mentors
Keynote, Voices of Achieve luncheon
Advocating in Washington, DC
First day of her internship
Tina and Miss T
Meet Tina
A mom, an advocate, and the daughter who taught her to be brave.
Tina Jackson is a globally recognized family advocate, public speaker, and co-author of Suddenly Brave Together. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Psychology and a paralegal certificate, served more than 22 years in the federal government, and spent nearly three years as a certified Title XVI Claims Specialist with the Social Security Administration.
She homeschooled her two daughters for 12 years, served on the Missouri Department of Mental Health's Division of Developmental Disabilities board, trained churches for Joni and Friends International Disability Ministry, and stood in the White House for the ABLE Act ceremony. Her advocacy earned The Whole Person Individual Achievement Award and the Missouri Resolution Award.
Letter #2of 30 chosen for Suddenly Brave Together
Meet Miss T
"I live on my own. I live with my caregiver."
That's how Tionna introduces herself to strangers, and she says it proudly. She presents alongside her mom using her AAC device, sharing her voice, perspective, and lived experience.
She's held jobs at McAlister's Deli and McDonald's, where she was Employee of the Month, volunteered at a public library, a hair salon, and a senior living community, earned her food service certification and CPR, and graduated from Project SEARCH at Arkansas Children's Hospital in May 2026. In 2015 she attended the ABLE Act celebration at the White House and gave then-Vice President Biden her signature hug.
"Her story is not just one of overcoming. It is one of contributing within her community."
Request the duo keynote
With her Project SEARCH mentors, Arkansas Children's Hospital
2015ABLE Act celebration, the White House
Now booking · Q4 2026 and 2027
Real stories, practical strategies, and unstoppable hope for your audience.
Keynotes, workshops, and professional training for caregiver conferences, healthcare and disability organizations, faith-based audiences, educators, and early intervention professionals. Request the duo keynote and Miss T takes the stage with her mom.
Beyond the DiagnosisSeeing possibility beyond prediction
Building Bridges to IndependenceThriving futures for adults with disabilities
The Power of Using Your VoiceTurning your voice into impact and change
The Discipline of FocusWhen your why is clear, focus becomes intentional
Upcoming
- Sept 24 Mom Capacity Workshop, Zoom
- Oct 8 Arkansas Early Childhood, workshop
- November Webinar
- 2027 American Psychological Association, plus additional dates
Past: keynote with Miss T at Voices of Achieve (April 2026), CaringBridge podcast, Preemie Advocacy Network in Washington, DC.
Take Tina home with you
The book, the planners, and the newsletter.
Suddenly Brave Together
Thirty letters from experienced caregiving moms to those just starting. Tina and Miss T's story is letter number two.
Get the book
Kids Rare Care planners
The Oct to Dec 2026 planner and the undated caregiver planner. A portion of every sale supports the Care Partners Project.
Created with
The Rare Reader
Tina's newsletter for families navigating rare disease and medical complexity. Twice a month, in text and audio.
Subscribe
Free · 5 minutes
Not sure where to start? Take the Are You Ready? assessment.
Ten questions. Your results by email, with the one next step Tina recommends for where you are right now.
"You were never meant to carry this alone. Let me show you where to set it down." Tina