Department of Human Services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 10, 2005
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Arlene Poncelet, 773-6369

Celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

in March and “Think Ability First”

On February 15, 2005, South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds, signed a proclamation declaring March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in South Dakota.  The Proclamation states, “It is in the public interest to offer individuals with developmental disabilities the opportunities to make decisions for themselves and to live and work in our communities where they can exercise their full rights and responsibilities as citizens.”  

What can you do to promote greater understanding of people with disabilities in your community? South Dakota Advocacy Services, USD Center for Disabilities and the SD Council on Developmental Disabilities, along with other related organizations, invite you to celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month during March and “Think Ability First.”

Statewide and across the nation, organizations devoted to serving individuals with developmental disabilities are working to raise public awareness of the many abilities people have.  “This is a time when our organization focuses on encouraging the public to better understand individuals with developmental disabilities,” said Robert J. Kean, Executive Director of South Dakota Advocacy Services. “During Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, we encourage people to learn more about people in your community who have disabilities.  For example, when you see a child who uses a wheelchair, see the child, not the chair.  And when you see an individual with disabilities bagging groceries, see the person.  In this community, touching your life every day, people with disabilities are working, learning, and living to the best of their abilities.”

According to Arlene Poncelet, Director of the Council on Developmental Disabilities, “It’s about Abilities not Disabilities.  Increasing public awareness involves redirecting everyone’s attention to what individuals with a developmental disability can do, instead of what they cannot do. More than physical barriers like high curbs or long staircases, it is often attitudinal barriers that negatively affect everyday life for them.”

A major focus for the organizations is People First Language.  Kathie Snow, a parent of a son with cerebral palsy states, “If people with disabilities are to be included in all aspects of our communities … they must talk about themselves in the ordinary, wonderful, typical language others use about themselves.”  So we should all think and talk about people with disabilities just as we think and talk about ourselves.  For more information regarding People First Language, call Sandy Stocklin Hook at South Dakota Advocacy Services at 1-800-658-4782.

More information can be found at www.state.sd.us/dhs/ddc.