Gwen Mouat doesn’t think too much about what she wants for Christmas. She’s more focused on what she can do for other children with her Toys for Tots gift drive. “I just really like to help people,” Gwen said. The New Albany High School student first saw a toy collection box a few years ago …

As far as Murriel Thompson is concerned, bum knees and senior status are no reason to hang up her bowling shoes. “To see people — that’s what I like,” she said. “And I’m pretty good, right?” Thompson definitely is a good bowler. And at 78, she’s also the oldest female athlete actively competing as a …

The aquatics center at West Central School is a wonderful resource, and the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities is again making it available to people served by the board, their families and FCBDD employees. The Monday Night Swim event had been on pause most of the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. …

For nearly a decade, Honeywell has partnered with ARC Industries to employ people with developmental disabilities. The crew started with six people, has grown to 24 and now makes up the largest on-site crew in ARC’s group employment program. Paula Daugherty heads up value-added services at Honeywell’s PPE distribution center in Groveport, where the ARC …

The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Creative Housing are continuing to offer incentives for people to try remote support, which can increase privacy and safely reduce the need for on-site staff. People served by FCBDD and who have a Medicaid waiver can receive up to $50 a month for 12 months to pay …

As a college student, direct-support professional, service coordinator and, eventually, a department manager at the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Lindsay Holt always kept to a highly structured and stable routine. “There was never a time that I thought I’d make a decision like this,” she said, smiling. “I have a conflict between my …

For many people with physical disabilities, the path to true community inclusion often stops at the bathroom door. That’s because there are hardly any public places with accessible restrooms that also include an adult-size changing table. “It makes you isolated, even more than you already feel as a person with a disability,” said Kim Boulter, …

Bill Ryan admits to being skeptical about hiring Emma Snailham as a bus assistant for the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities. After so many surgeries on her hands, he worried she wouldn’t have the dexterity to safely secure a wheelchair. Ryan may never have been so happily wrong. Not only could Snailham handle the …

Boundless Health is welcoming patients to a newly renovated facility that will serve as a hub for primary, dental and behavioral-health care for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. “We are going to be one of only a few organizations in the entire country who provide this unique care,” Dr. Patrick Maynard, president and CEO …

Had it not been for a visit to a special-education classroom with a college dormmate, Dr. Angela Ray might have kept to her initial plan and wound up with a job in public relations. But the school experience affected her deeply. “These are the people I need to serve,” she remembers thinking. Ray graduated from …