"A Comprehensive Resource for Individuals with Diverse Abilities"
Independent Pathways was created as a resource to walk alongside you as you navigate adulthood’s changes, challenges, and opportunities. We’re here to offer guidance, support, and a sense of community, but the journey is yours to lead. Our goal is to provide resources and tools that fit where you are and where you want to go.
This groundbreaking curriculum is designed to empower individuals with diverse abilities and equip providers, families, and agencies to deliver inclusive, adaptive, and unapologetic sexuality education. It goes beyond a risk-only approach, to focus on safety, autonomy, pride, and pleasure.
When we teach people to be Safe AND Happy, we move closer to a world where everyone has the freedom to live authentically and without shame.
Where Lived Experience Meets Expertise.
Marissa Pangle is an unapologetically autistic educator whose professional and lived experiences inform a disability-centered approach to sexuality education. Her work directly challenges the systems that have historically denied disabled individuals access to accurate information about their bodies, relationships, pleasure, consent, and autonomy.
With over a decade of experience working as a Medicaid Waiver Behavior Support Specialist, Marissa understands both the structural barriers individuals face and the real-world consequences of withholding education. She is an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator and Approved Continuing Education Provider through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists.
AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists) is the leading professional organization setting standards for sexuality education, counseling, and therapy.
Certification through AASECT reflects advanced training, verified competency, supervised experience, and a commitment to ethical, evidence-based education.
An American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists Approved Continuing Education (CE) Provider is an individual or organization that has been formally approved to offer training that meets AASECT’s professional standards.
These providers deliver education that can be used toward earning or maintaining AASECT certification, and are responsible for ensuring all content aligns with AASECT guidelines, ethics, and competency requirements.
Our lectures and workshops provide direct, practical education on topics that impact your everyday life, including relationships, self care, boundaries, communication, and professional development.
Information is presented in a way that is clear, relevant, and designed to be used. You are encouraged to take what is meaningful, apply it in a way that works for you, and build skills that support your goals.
Divergent Dating is a space designed for neurodivergent individuals to explore dating, relationships, and meaningful connection in a way that is clear, respectful, and aligned with who they are.
The focus is on building real skills around communication, boundaries, consent, and navigating relationships with intention. This includes both romantic relationships and friendships, with an emphasis on understanding what a healthy, safe, and fulfilling connection means to you.
Coaching is one-on-one and centered on your goals, your experiences, and what you want to build.
You bring what matters to you. Together, we break it down, build skills, and move forward in a way that is clear, intentional, and aligned with your life.