Pictured: Kelly Brown, Superintendent of
GCBDD; Ashley Crawford, Pr for GCBDD; and Chuck Fair, President, Byesville
Rotary.
Guernsey County Board of Developmental
Disabilities (GCBDD) is celebrating almost 60 years of service to Guernsey
County. Kelly Brown, Superintendent of the GCBDD, explained that in the 1950’s,
parents were told that disabled children would not thrive. Many children were
warehoused in institutions which were woefully understaffed and were able to
provide only the basics of shelter, food and clothing. This type of environment
insured that the children did not thrive.
Kelly stated that in 1957, a group of parents and interested people in Guernsey County established the Guernsey
Council of Retarded Children with the object of raising funds to provide
special classes for disabled children. The first class consisted of 8 children.
The original organization was authorized by the Guernsey County Child Welfare
Board.
Om 1969, an adult program was added to provide
training to disabled adults. By that time, the Guernsey Council of Retarded
Children was supporting 3 classes of school aged children. The adult classes
attracted 44 students from Guernsey and Noble Counties. Each adult student paid
tuition in order to attend class.
Kelly went on to say that as needs changed,
additional services were requested. Kelly pointed out that a major change in
thinking about working with disabled person also took place. Caregivers began
to demand that the disabled should not be just warehoused in large wards, They
wanted their disabled loved ones to be more engaged and prepared to deal with
normal activities of life such as learning how to find a job, hold down a job, live
as independently as possible, and develop to the highest degree possible.
A big step was taken in 1972 when the board
established the Golden Rule School. As times and services changed, the name of
the Guernsey Council of Retarded Children also changed to the Guernsey County
Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Brown and, Ashley Crawford, newly hired to
provide PR for the GCBDD, pointed out that in October the organization
celebrated National Disability Employment Awareness month. They shared some interesting
facts about how well disabled persons do as employees. Currently the GCBDD has
22 disabled persons employed by businesses in the local community. Disabled
people develop into flexible employees who have better than average attendance
rates. Their performance on the job is typically average or above average and
so are their requests for sick days.
Connect with Byesville Rotary at: www.Byesvillerotary.blogspot.com
or https://www.facebook.com/pages/Byesville-Rotary/256548047818283.
The club meets 7:30 am, Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS
use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Walk-ins are welcome at the club’s
meeting.
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