2021 Developmental Disability Awareness Month
Spread the Word for Inclusion
March is a special time to recognize the wonderful and unique people that we are blessed to serve at St. Coletta of Wisconsin. Each year we partake in a variety of activities to celebrate March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, including a special awareness campaign, banner signing, a custom designed t-shirt, and a pledge by families, staff, clients and the community at large to be more inclusive in our words and actions. Organizations, Special Olympics and Best Buddies originated the Spread the Word campaign as a global movement to promote inclusion in the workplace, schools and community.
“Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), a group made up of over 200 million people, representing every country, belief system, gender, and ethnicity, continue to be excluded and isolated from their peers in schools, workplaces and communities. You can combat the hurtful and dehumanizing effects of exclusion. This past year, due to Covid-19, we have all seen the effects that isolation and exclusion can have on us individually and as a community. A pandemic, physical distancing, disruptions of social interaction, and more have both energized us and exhausted us. They have separated and divided us. They have disconnected us from each other. And when we are disconnected, we are robbed of the opportunity to learn and grow together.” (www.spreadtheword.global.resources)
Inclusion is a skill that each of us can learn and practice. It builds togetherness through difference and community through adversity. Make it a personal priority to see others, hear others and value others through inclusion. Please join St. Coletta, Special Olympics and Best Buddies to encourage all areas of community inclusion – homes, employment, education, recreation and healthy living. Let’s celebrate inclusion and the opportunity to be together.