Welcome!
Welcome to The Ability Center and our new website. Our hope is that you will find disability-related information that is useful to you. As with all things new and technical, this site is a work-in-process. It will evolve best with your feedback. Should you find glitches or have suggestions for improvement, please direct them to me, Dan Wilkins, Manager of Public Relations. dwilkins@abilitycenter.org.
Who We Are:
The Ability Center of Greater Toledo (ACT) is a non-profit Center for Independent Living (CIL) serving northwest Ohio. With a main campus located in Sylvania, Ohio, and two satellite offices in Defiance and Port Clinton, Ohio, ACT serves seven counties: Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Williams and Wood. We accomplish our mission by providing a variety of services, including Five Core Services: Information and Referral, Advocacy, Independent Living Skills Training, Peer Support and Community Living. Click on the links to the left of any page to learn more about our services, contact staff members, or find directions to our offices.
ADA Zoo Day Image
2009 ADA ZOO DAY Fast Approaching
This year’s ADA Awareness Zoo Day is Monday, July 27th, from 10 am to 4 pm. Come join us for a day of fun and information. There will be around 100 organizations represented again this year. we still have 14 slots open for exhibitors. If you’re interested, fill out the form by clicking the link ADA Zoo Day Sign Up on the left side of this page. Hope to see you there!
5 Star Quality Service
At their March 2009 meeting, The Ability Center’s Board of Trustees approved the development of a plan that will move all programs and services toward 5 Star Quality. Derrick Dufresne and Mike Mayer of Community Resource Associates developed the concept of 5 Star Quality Service (relative to delivery of disability services) and describe it as follows:
“Disability systems can only bring people to three star quality. No matter what we do, no matter what kind of staff we have, if it is disability system-based, it cannot achieve more than three star quality. Three star quality is good, four star quality is better and five star quality is great.
There is a line that delineates and differentiates level four and level five star quality. Four and five star quality can only be defined by the community - not by the disability system. It is that line that distinguishes the journey that makes and helps people be better clients (3 Star) or allows people to practice citizenship (5 Star), their birthright. Citizenship is not anything that we bestow upon people with disabilities. They have it as a result of their birthright”.
By striving to achieve 5 star Quality, The Ability Center will assist consumers with the achievement of their goals and the move from client to citizen status; from merely being in the community (inclusion: 3 Star, good) to being of the community (citizenship: 5 Star, great). Click here to learn more about 5 Star Quality Service.