The History of Las Senoras 

In 2008, Griselda Camacho was hard at work providing service coordination services for Spanish-speaking families who have adults with disabilities.  She noticed a pattern with most families: they did not have good knowledge about the Idaho developmental disability service system.  Beyond that, they had big gaps in their understanding of their children’s’ diagnoses and most were diagnosed very late in life so they missed critical early intervention services.  She began dreaming of the possibility of hosting an all-day conference that would serve to educate these families and bring them together to help them know that they are not alone.  In 2013 Griselda assembled a small cadre of women who were all mothers of children with disabilities of various ages and asked them to attend monthly planning meetings.  These brave Senoras are Araceli Lopez, Daniela Gomez, Francisca Gomez, Bertha Avila, Rosario Beagarie, and Maria Ramirez. During these meetings, Griselda talked to them about the purpose of educating themselves about the service system and the importance of them leading the movement. They worked on initiating the process of planning the first conference. While looking for support, Griselda met Toni Brinegar, staff of ICDD. She expressed her desire to assist with this dream. Griselda at first declined the help because she had a specific way she wanted to include the parents so the process would be led by them and not by an outside organization.  While Toni understood this message, she felt that ICDD could provide the support to make Griselda’s dream a reality, so they did it. With the support of organizations such IPUL, ICDD, Pantera Market and families, the first conference was held in September 2015, a one-day conference was held at a donated space in Caldwell.  The speaker (Sandra Caldera) was a psychologist and a person with a disability.  There were presentations by Idaho Parents Unlimited and DisAbility Rights Idaho.  It was a powerful day and one that changed the hearts and minds of many in the room because many parents did not dream of a time where their child with a disability could go to college, get married or have children, however, the keynote speaker had done all of those things.  While most one-day events garner little long-term positive effects, this conference motivated more people to get involved. The group continued meeting and planning more conferences. In 2020 the group started to receive support from strong leaders such as Gary Sandusky, Gail Heylmun, Toni Brinegar, and Jim Baugh. With these great team members, and the sponsorship of IPUL, Pantera Market and community members in 2022 the group planned the conference number four. The event had the participation of approximately 200 families. In 2023 Griselda asked the families to think about the next steps. The families expressed the desire to work on becoming a non-profit organization. With Gary Sandusky, and many Latinos families' support In April 2023 the application was filed. The group received the non-profit status in May 2023 as Las Senoras, Inc. The group is growing and receives the participation of members from all over the state of Idaho.