March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, where an emphasis is placed on the inclusion and integration of individuals with developmental disabilities in all facets of their communities.
In Athens, there have been numerous events recognizing this month and raising awareness to these individuals’ experiences. Many of these events have been hosted by Integrate Athens, a division of the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities, which aims to incorporate inclusivity within Athens.
Arian Smedley, the assistant superintendent of the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities, described Integrate Athens’ initiative and its core principles.
“The Integrate Athens division is designed to explore and initiate inclusive and integrated projects within the community and also within our agency,” Smedley said. “And when we say inclusion and integration, we mean finding opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to feel and be more included in their community.”
Each year, Integrate Athens typically holds a multitude of in-person events within Athens that bring together local officials and residents to recognize the month.
Autumn Brown, the director of Integrate Athens, elaborated on the organization’s notorious march on Court Street that occurs annually.
“We typically have a march on Court Street on the first Friday of March, where the Athens community, city and county officials and others from other counties march with us,” Brown said. “Everyone gets together and makes signs and marches from Baker Center to Court Street just to kick off DD Awareness Month and help people with disabilities see that they are valued and respected and that people care that they're a part of their community.”
However, this event, as well as several others, Brown said, had to be altered due to the pandemic.
“Instead, this year, we put out an all call to our community partners, the community at large, the providers and individuals we support asking them to send us pictures of their signs and how they're staying safe at their house,” Brown said. “And so we ended up doing a virtual march on Court Street.”
Alongside the march on Court Street, many of Integrate Athens’ other annual events had to be altered due to pandemic restrictions, including the declaration of DD Awareness month by the county commissioners and the Mayor of Athens, which was transitioned to a virtual format.
However, amid the pandemic’s limitations, Brown implemented a new series of virtual events called Virtual Lunch and Learn, which occur every Tuesday at noon via Zoom. Brown said these presentations are led by a group of advocacy ambassadors who present topics related to advocacy and rights of people with disabilities.
“(The advocacy ambassadors) are a group of people with developmental disabilities who work really hard to create presentations and advocate for the needs of people with disabilities in our community,” Brown said. “So they do a one-hour presentation and talk about their life and a topic that's important to them.”
The purpose of these events, Brown said, is to educate people about discrimination against individuals with disabilities, from the perspective of those who are directly affected.
“We're trying to introduce the community to the term ableism,” Brown said. “Racism is clearly thankfully at the forefront right now with all the Black Lives Matter (movements) that are going on, and so we're trying to help people understand more about ableism as well and how it's the same thing with a slightly different focus, but it's omitting people from being a part of their community in whatever way they want. So this team (of advocacy ambassadors) is teaching people about ableism and about how these things have impacted their lives.”
In addition to these weekly events, Brown also organized a Virtual Lecture Series with disability consultant Noah Trembly to provide two presentations that will cover topics of inclusion as well as barriers to his community. His first lecture took place March 10, and his second lecture will be held March 24.
On Trembly’s website, it states he “has been the expert people turn to when it comes to making our society more amenable and accessible to people with disabilities.”
Trembly hopes his presentation as well as the various other events during the month will bring awareness to the experiences of people with disabilities and offer them a new perspective.
“I think it’s important to have Disability Awareness Month because even in this day and age, people with disabilities are not fully accepted in society,” Trembly said.
Throughout this month and beyond, Smedley believes progress for individuals with disabilities relies on a shift in the way they are perceived.
“A lot of progress has been made to improve their lives, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Smedley said. “So just reminding the community of that but at the same time helping to shift their perception to be more about what they can do and not so much what they can't, I think that would go a long way in helping address some of those challenges as well.”
