January is Self-Help Group Awareness Month

January is a time when many of us focus on ourselves, whether it be to lose weight or stop smoking cigarettes. There are times when this task may be more than we can handle ourselves. We may seek out groups where people seeking similar changes gather to support each other.

For those seeking recovery for addictions, groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous may have the assistance that we need to meet our goals at ending our drug use.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month

ACCORDING to stopbullying.gov, bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children. It involves a real or perceived power imbalance and the behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying comes in many forms: verbal, social, physical, and cyber bullying.

While children may get bullied for many reasons, children with disabilities are at a higher risk of being bullied. Children with physical vulnerabilities, like using crutches or a wheelchair, or children with social skill challenges, like those on the autism spectrum, may seem different from their peers and are often targeted by bullies as they may seem weak and/or unable to defend themselves.

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October is Depression Awareness Month

“I THINK,” Robin Williams once said, “the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy, because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.”

He was one of millions of Americans diagnosed with depression. The National Alliance of Mental Illness reports that an estimated 16 million American adults have experienced a depressive episode in the past year.

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27 years of protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities

JULY 26, 2017, marks the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, commonly known as the ADA. Signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA was created to ensure people with disabilities would not be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the areas of employment; access to our government, both local and Federal; and access to private businesses that serve our community.

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Life side by side

MARCH is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month!

The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and the National Disability Rights Network have created a campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life, as well as barriers that people with disabilities sometimes face when connecting with the communities they live in.

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