Press Release
Date: March 1, 2011
March is DD Awareness Month
By LINDA D. SMITH
Public Relations Director
Champaign Residential Services, Inc.
The month of March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and the goal of this annual effort is to increase public awareness and understanding of people with developmental disabilities so that these citizens will have increased access to employment, education, housing and social opportunities.
Champaign Residential Services, Inc, (CRSI) a provider of services for people with developmental disabilities, joins similar organizations nationwide and invites all people to consider the true meaning of this year’s theme, “Together”.
“Together” reflects the understanding that when individuals with disabilities are welcomed into local neighborhoods, workplaces, houses of worship and schools; everyone wins.
When CRSI began serving the community in Champaign County in 1976 there were many obstacles due to the lack of understanding and knowledge in the community. Neighbors sought signatures on petitions to keep people with disabilities from living next door to them. Others wrote or referred to “mentally retarded” people; perpetuating the stigma and label that is now archaic in our writing, in our speaking and in our naming of entities.
We no longer call people names by referring to them as “mentally retarded” but rather we refer to the challenges people are living every day. Johnny is not “mentally retarded” but he is living with a developmental disability that requires support services so that he can go through his day in ways that most of us take for granted.
Mental retardation is a diagnosis, a condition, a noun; but what it is not is an adjective, a label or a brand.
CRSI and other similar providers of services do not offer “mentally retarded” services; we provide developmental disability services.
All county boards formerly known as boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MR/DD) are now called boards of developmental disabilities (DD). The Ohio Department of MR/DD is now the Ohio Department of DD. These changes were legislated in the House and Senate and signed by Governor Strickland in 2009.
It is no longer socially acceptable to joke about or call people “retarded” and the primary reason is that over the years, people and whole communities have become more educated and aware of what this label does to people and families who are living with these challenges. This is why every year, in March, Ohio and the whole nation celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.
During the month of March and all year long, we encourage people to learn more about people in the community who have developmental disabilities and to recognize that all of us have talents and abilities that we can offer to make this a better place to live. “Together” we can accomplish more.