Most every day, Brenda Gardner sees or hears or does something that leaves her heart a little more full. “I enjoy the accomplishments of others,” she said, smiling. “I like seeing them get to do things that lots of people might not give them a chance to try.”Gardner is a direct-support professional (DSP) at Hattie …

The suggestion board in the new ARC community hub usually fills up fast. Participants in the STEP (Start Toward Emerging Possibilities) program have no trouble coming up with places to go, things to do and people to see.“Ride a pontoon boat. Watch drag racing. Visit a bookstore. It’s fun to see what everyone chooses,” said …

Kaled Soufi cannot communicate verbally, so his family relies on his expressions and reactions. And there was never any mistaking how the 19-year-old felt about his experience in this summer’s Transition to Work program.“So happy,” said his older sister, Sana. “He was super excited when we dropped him off in the morning, and at night, …

Samuel Davis, a Hilliard area resident and parent of two children with disabilities, has been appointed to the board of the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities.Davis, 40, is a Corporate Technology Director within Nationwide’s Executive Leadership Cabinet. He succeeds former board member Renee Stein, who took a seat on the board in 2009 and …

Nina Williams still cries sometimes when she thinks about all she’s been through. But now, after years of trauma and struggle, Williams sheds mostly happy tears. “I am a very successful person,” she said, smiling. “And I am glad that I got help. I actually fear that if I didn’t, I might be dead.” Williams …

The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities has begun rolling out the new OhioISP This link opens a different website in a new tab. for people whose current individual service plans have start dates in the autumn or later. “The vision of this is that it will be an ongoing process,” said Lee Childs, FCBDD …

Over the past 28 years, Kim Kelly has worked with more than 150 different disability-services providers – some for months or years, many only briefly — to cover the 24-hour care her son needs. And Kelly is again looking to hire. “The fact that you can’t get providers right now is burning out a lot …

As a teacher and parent of four biracial children, including a son with autism, Jessica Bennett strives to make sure students see themselves and their classmates in the books she presents. But finding early-learning material that reflects diversity in race, culture and abilities isn’t always easy. So Bennett, a teacher in the Early Childhood Family …