The View From My Chair

half decades, individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities continue their struggle to live their lives with the same access to those experiences and prospects that we all expect.

Sunny, Chris & Gerry

It’s been thirty-six years since President Reagan recognized March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month to increase “public awareness of the needs and the potential of Americans with developmental disabilities” and to provide the “encouragement and opportunities they need to lead productive lives and to achieve their full potential.” Though there have been strides made over the last three and a

I am very pleased with our agency’s mission statement because I believe it identifies those desires that we all share in hoping that our time on this planet will make a difference; we all want to have connections, we want to believe that we have made contributions, and we need our lives to have meaning! This is the life we want for each of our participants and for every one of our employees as well. I guess the dream would be that at some point in the future we won’t need a special month dedicated to disability awareness.

To make this happen however, takes a certain amount of resources, and until just the last few years the state of Illinois lagged far behind in authorizing the revenue necessary to implement creative, flexible, quality supports for the persons we serve. Even with the increases of the past few years we are still playing catch up. In today’s economy with its’ workforce crisis that many health service providers are experiencing, it’s imperative that we are able to offer our staff a decent living wage! Why is it that our state still