From Advocacy to Action: How Amy Engelbrecht Turned Lived Experience into a Dream Job

“I just got my dream job.”

Amy Engelbrecht doesn’t hesitate when talking about her work. Or downplay it.

She beams.

Beginning as a Self-Determination in Action Instructor at Easterseals Midwest in February 2025 was the moment she stepped into the career she had always hoped existed. “I told my family, ‘I just got my dream job,’” she says with a smile that makes the statement simultaneously exude both celebration and confidence.

Finding Her Place

She describes Easterseals with the clarity of someone who lives the mission outside of her time here. When people ask her about it, she puts it rather simply: “We’re an organization for people with disabilities. We support community living, advocacy, and the self-determination classes where people learn how to live their good life.”

Just listening to her explain it is to feel welcomed into a brand new world… one filled with possibility.

A Lifetime of Advocacy, Beginning at Age Four

Yes, a life of advocacy did not begin when Amy stepped into her instructor role. It started long before… before job titles, before teaching, even before adulthood.

She remembers being four years old, sitting at restaurant tables with a menu in her hands, her parents encouraging her to speak up for herself. That very early practice of communicating with confidence became one of the more defining threads of her life so far.

“To be honest,” she says, “I just don’t take people so seriously that they’re not approachable. You’re a human being like I am. This is what I need. Can you help me?”

It’s simple. She’s Amy.

Leading With CP and Autism

When she shared her diagnosis of both cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorder with us, there was a grounded sense of self-awareness. Someone who knows exactly who she is.

She always knew about her CP, but was diagnosed with autism at age 23. Instead of the two diagnoses complicating her identity, they clarified it.

“Having these disabilities has really ignited my passion for advocacy,” she says. “I have no clue who I’d be without them. They’re so integral to my identity.”

The expectation might be a lowered confidence, but these lived experiences elevated it. They turned into fuel. A fuel for teaching, a fuel for connecting, and fuel for the work she now calls her dream job.

The Instructor Who Teaches People to Speak for Themselves

In her self-determination courses, Amy walks others through skills that can change their entire life: self-advocacy, communication, confidence, and knowing how to ask for what you need.

She’s a trainer, but what makes her teaching so powerful is her lived experience. A lot of teachers teach theory. Amy teaches truth. The same courage she learned as a child now becomes courage she passes along to others.

A Little Hope

Amy is very adamant about offering up some encouragement to others. She shared a quote she loves, one that captures everything about who she is and how she moves through the world:

“I do it because I can. I can because I want to. I want to because you said I couldn’t.”

This is a slogan to live by. It’s also the complete heartbeat of her life’s journey.

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