Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio is teaming up with The Improvaneer Method to offer summer “Improva-Camp” sessions for youth and adults with disabilities. The Improvaneer Method was launched by Rob Snow, an Ohio parent who has a son with Down syndrome. Participants use improvisation to build skills such as quick and creative thinking, problem solving, …
Read More
As she stood before an audience that had swelled to more than 400 people, Lattie Harrington realized she wasn’t feeling like her usual happy self. “I thought, ‘Uh-oh, what just happened? It got me,” she said. “I got stage fright. I cried a little bit.” But the tears didn’t linger, and Harrington soon felt happy …
Read More
Jed Morison, Superintendent and CEO for the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, has announced that he will retire effective Dec. 31, 2023, following 54 years of public service. This is the full message he sent to staff and friends on May 15: After much consideration and now that the COVID public health emergency is …
Read More
Ask Hope Johnson to describe what she does, and her answer – Just about everything! – says a lot about the way she embraces her job as a direct-support professional. “We go out and integrate ourselves into the community,” Johnson said, smiling. “I tell people, if it’s somewhere I’d take my kids, family or friends, …
Read More
For the first time since 2019, the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities is hosting an in-person provider fair to help connect people with disabilities and local disability-services providers. The annual event, which draws hundreds of families and providers, did not take place for the past three years due to the COVID pandemic. This year’s …
Read More
This past month was DD Awareness Month, and it is exciting to see how far things have come just since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990. It’s even more exciting to see that, in many ways, we continue in a positive direction. I see us perched on the edge of …
Read More
After more than two decades of work at public child-welfare and disabilities agencies, Marla Battiste has read through thousands of service plans, reports and reviews. And she’s still eager to pore over each and every one she receives. “I’ve always been very detail-oriented,” said Battiste, the new manager of provider support and review at the …
Read More
People with developmental disabilities will have the opportunity to speak directly to central Ohio lawmakers during an advocacy forum March 31. The event, which first began in 2013 but was postponed in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allows people to share views, raise concerns and make suggestions about issues important to the local …
Read More
The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities teamed up with the Columbus Metropolitan Library to compile a great selection of book recommendations for DD Awareness Month this March. Read below for summaries and age ranges. And for more info on award-winning books that inform and educate about developmental disabilities, check out the Schneider Family Book …
Read More
A group of disability service providers and advocacy organizations has launched a campaign urging Ohio legislators to approve a big increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rates that fund wages for direct-support professionals. Because DSP pay has been so low for so long, Ohio’s developmental disability workforce crisis has worsened throughout the state, the coalition said: …
Read More
