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Tamar and Saul El-Or want their 19-year-old daughter to have a place where no one snickers or rolls their eyes at her because of her disabilities. They want her to have real friends who treat her as an equal.

At their Lake Linganore home last week, the El-Ors said their daughter — who has mild disabilities — was often bullied in high school, and has never had a true friend with whom she can talk or invite to their home.

"We would like her to meet other young adults where she can feel good about who she is and not to feel excluded," Saul El-Or said.

Finding no other opportunities in the community for this, the El-Ors are in the beginning stages of creating a parent-led social group for young adults with disabilities, either developmental or physical.

The response in the community has so far been encouraging, the El-Ors said, as more than 30 parents have e-mailed or called them to express interest in helping to start the group.

On May 21, the El-Ors and more than 20 parents met for the first time at the C. Burr Artz Library in Frederick to discuss organizational plans and ideas for the group.

One by one, parents spoke with emotion of their adult children's difficulty in making friends or losing the one friend they thought they had. All agreed the group is much needed.

The El-Ors hope the group will become a place where their daughter and her peers will feel comfortable to socialize, talk and engage in fun, instructor-led recreational activities based on their interests.

They are seeking a location for the group to meet every three weeks, and have yet to set another planning meeting.

Evelyn Rivera, a service coordinator for Service Coordination Inc., sees a need for such a group. Service Coordination is a private, nonprofit organization that helps adults and children with developmental disabilities access resources and services to fulfill life goals.

Part of the organization's work is to identify service gaps and try to make improvements in the system. "I think this group would fill the gap," Rivera said.

Susan Barnhill of the Mental Health Association of Frederick County also attended the first meeting and said that because young adults with disabilities are often socially isolated, "they end up going on the Internet, getting on chat rooms.

"They're at risk for being victimized because they don't know who's on the other end," Barnhill added.

If young adults without disabilities have trouble maintaining relationships after high school, "how are kids who are really challenged navigating it?" Barnhill noted.

E-mail Katherine Mullen at kmullen@gazette.net.