MAR/APR
2022
Garden Center Services
The View From My Chair A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Carol & Gerry
INSIDE THIS ISSUE THE VIEW FROM MY CHAIR Page 1 SEP UPDATE Page 2 SECOND CHANCE Page 3 AROUND GCS Page 4
It has been 35 years since President Ronald Reagan made a formal proclamation that the month of March would be recognized as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Three years after that, in 1990, the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed that helped to advance the rights of millions of Americans with developmental disabilities. Currently, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that 1 in 6 children and 1 in 4 adults in the United States are living with a developmental disability.
With all the proclamations, acts, and exposure we’ve had, one would think we’d be further along with putting into place the necessary services, programs, opportunities and funding that would truly allow persons with a developmental disability to have the lives of connection, contribution, and meaning they deserve.
There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more.
-Robert M. Hensel There’s no doubt that there have been some positive changes for individuals with disabilities over the last few decades, and we are grateful for those changes. However, the truth is that those changes were just the basic building blocks and there are so many people that were not
even exposed to them! The state’s financial situation has just recently become more stabilized and positive. The years of economic variability, indebtedness, and downgrading of our bond status had led to years of minimal rate increases which meant our funding became increasingly inadequate. We’re finally coming off an FY22 budget that made a historic investment in I/ DD services and supports, and we need to ensure that the legislature continues this trend.
GARDEN CENTER SERVICES
continued on page 4