Grass Roots Program Cover Art

The New Year is right around the corner and, at this time of the year, many folks resolve to tackle challenges as the New Year begins. On December 15, 2009, The Ability Center hosted a “Grass Roots Advocacy” event to get a jump start on one of its “New Years Resolutions” — that of improving grass roots advocacy in northwest Ohio.

“New Years is a time when many folks make resolutions with a dogged determination to make changes in their lives.” says Marianne Huff, Director of Advocacy for ACT, “Our promise is to make advocacy at the grass roots a priority in 2010!”

There were approximately sixty people in attendance from a broad range of groups including persons with disabilities, their friends and families, and staff from other organizations. The event began with a catered dinner and musical entertainment, followed by a formal program that included watching “The Power of 504”, an award-winning documentary on early Disability Rights advocacy, and a panel discussion on the importance of advocacy at the grass roots level. At the conclusion of the program, groups were assembled to provide feedback as to “how” to create such a group and keep it going. The grass roots group will be targeting issues that impact persons with disabilities at the local, state and federal level.

Marianne Huff Addresses Attendees

“The idea that common people can and should have a voice in their society and in their government is not a new one, so there is nothing revolutionary about The Ability Center’s efforts.” explains Huff, “However, we are trying to take a new approach to an old idea. You see, we don’t want this group to be about us; about The Ability Center and what it represents in the community. There is nothing grass roots about an agency that has been around for 90 years doing the work and taking control of something as fundamental as “speaking out”, with and on behalf of others. This is something that has to be owned by the community, and not just by the disability community. It has to be owned by all interested parties: persons with disabilities, persons without disabilities, persons who simply care about the world around them, persons who realize that we are all connected.”

Sharing a message worth hearing

The goal of the group is to give persons with disabilities a voice so that they can speak up and speak out regarding issues that impact them. The group will be meeting on a monthly basis and the next meeting is yet to be scheduled, but it will be held in January of 2010.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the grass roots advocacy group, please contact Marianne Huff at 866-885-5733 ext. 223 or via email at mhuff@abilitycenter.org.

Nathan Watt sings "Unstoppable"

Participant Recap:

The name of the participants: Tami Williams, Ana Ulrich, Cindy Shunk, Sheilah Wilson, Jessica Weinberg, Tami Williams, Toby Fey, Paula Lewis, Renee Woods–these folks helped to create the program and they guide the group. Tami Williams was the emcee. Cindy Shunk spoke about
Advocacy. Jessica Weinberg spoke about Public Policy and how it affects all of us. Tami Williams talked about the definition of disability and the fact that persons with disabilities are the largest minority in the United States. Marianne Huff gave a speech that discussed the importance of “speaking up”.

The audience also viewed the film, “The Power of 504″, which captures the sit-ins that occurred around the United States in 1977 when regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 were not created.

Musician: Don Binkley

Additional musical treat: Nathan Watt, a young chair-using guitar player sang a song that he wrote entitled, ‘Unstoppable.”

Sharing Appreciation

Enlightened Conversation

Don Binkley Sings

More pics are on our Facebook page.