Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month kicks off in Ohio with an advocacy day at the Statehouse on Tuesday, March 5.

The month of March signifies DD awareness month, and the Muskingum County Board of DD is focusing on celebrating inclusion in the community for those with developmental disabilities.

“We want people to have lives just like everyone else does,”  Missy Hartley, Community Network Coordinator at the Muskingum County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said. “So, we want people to be working in the community, if that’s what they want, and also if they’re working also being apart of the community with volunteering or just being included in their current community.”

Muskingum County is ranked 11th out of Ohio’s 88 counties for developmental disabilities employment with about 70 people employed throughout the county that use the organization’s services.

“For years we’ve been very selfish with the people that we support,” Hartley said. “We’ve always kept them sheltered and in sheltered workshops, and now we know that it’s important for them to be out in the community like we are. To be connected, to meet new friends, to be able to do different activities.”

In addition to the 40 to 50 employers within Muskingum County providing jobs to developmentally disabled people in the area, Hartley said many area churches and organizations provide volunteer opportunities as well.

A member of the Muskingum County People First advocacy group that uses the Board’s services spoke about his part-time job, as well as his volunteer work he’s been doing at Genesis Hospital for over 20 years during a meeting with the Muskingum County Commissioners Monday afternoon.

The People First group is comprised of members with developmental disabilities working together to do activities, host fundraising events and go conferences to network and gain experiences outside of their communities.

Hartley said the group, as well as the Board’s services, are helping people with developmental disabilities have a voice and be prominent members of their communities.

“Before, you would never see people out in the community with disabilities, and now, everywhere you go you see people with disabilities,” Hartley said. “People are everywhere, and that’s very important.”