I am a Speech Pathologist in an MRDD facility where Bill volunteers three days a week. When I went to a Unity® inservice a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to him how frustrated I felt and he offered to tutor me. I downloaded the Pathfinder demo software from your website and he tutors me (complete with tests!) once a week during my lunch time. He is so patient with me and is a natural teacher, giving just enough hints so that I don't give up. He is amazing! He volunteers with some very challenging students and the patience he has exhibited with them is incredible.

Bill would say that his biggest challenge has been to get his bachelors degree, which he now has. He said he was only able to do it with the aid of the Liberator and then Pathfinder. Bill is seeking a job now that he has graduated from college and interviews for employment with the aid of his Pathfinder.

I think one of Bill’s secret goals may be to teach me enough about Unity that I will at least be able to work with any future students and/or clients that I may encounter in the future who use PRC products. I am so lucky to have what I consider a private tutor.

Bill serves on at least a couple of committees, and has presented at national conferences for augmented communicators. Bill is a Priest in his church, having moved up in the ranks from Deacon to Priest. He is a member of the Scioto County Board of MRDD Human Rights Committee, A State of Ohio People First board member, and the President of the Local Chapter of People First.

Bill is my hero. He rallied around when people with disabilities needed a leader for their Levy Campaign. He never has an excuse for not getting involved when asked for help. He volunteers his time with people with disabilities. He has helped me to be a better and more patient therapist and student, and most of all to be a better listener. He has helped me realize that even though I have been working with people with different disabilities for 23 years, I still have a lot to learn and thankfully, a friend named Bill Adams to encourage me in this life-long process. I will be forever grateful to him for this.

Submitted by Jennifer Oakley, SLP. Portsmouth, Ohio

Bill Adams' Speech
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.  I first want to thank you for allowing me this time to talk in front of you.  My name is Bill Adams.  I am a recent graduate of Shawnee State University, and I had the privilege of being asked to be the chairperson of the 2004 Levy Campaign for the Scioto County’s MRDD program. 

I have been associated with certain types of the program nearly throughout my life, first attending preschool at Happy Hearts, and later upon graduating from Clay High School, becoming a client of theirs in ’93, by having a part time job in the recreational department in the evenings for two days a week. Since ’93 I have remained on with the program out of Star Adult Workshop, they have provided me with certain types of programs that allow me to function throughout my life in general.

I attribute the success that I now have to the Scioto County MRDD program, because they were the ones with the aid of the Bureau of Vocation Rehabilitation that assisted me with getting a communication device, which allowed me to communicate to the outside world.

I attribute that time in my life as a dramatic life changing experience, because before then, even the thought of having to talk to a stranger would be near impossible for me, because of the severe speech impediment that I have.

With the aid of this device, I could do things that I thought were once out of reach, and the biggest was attending college and getting my bachelors degree in social science.  I couldn’t do that by myself. 

I had some assistance with Star Adult Workshop, they were the ones that helped me to get enrolled there, and they continued with assisting with other miscellaneous things throughout my education there.

In 2000 I began to receive supported living services, which is also available out of the MRDD program, and I was able to move out of my parent’s house for the first time, and to live on campus, which taught me that I could live on my own with some assistance with my personal needs.  With that assistance provided by the Scioto County’s MRDD program, it had made me as much independent that I could be.  And they are still continuing providing services to me, the supported living program is still working with me. Hopefully sometime in the near future I will find an apartment of my own.  They are also helping me in trying to find a job, with the assistance with the Portsmouth’s Rehabilitation Center.

Besides of being a client of theirs, I was fortunate to volunteer my time at the Carousel Center as a part of a internship class that I took in the spring of 2004 as a college course, so I guess that I had the privilege of not only receiving services for them, but also working with them with the preschool children they serve. 

From observing four different classes in the center , I could see that besides of having quality child care of children between the ages of three to five, much learning activities are being used, in both preparing them for kindergarten or other aspects in the future that some of these children will have to face.

These learning activities could be as simple as trying to make someone to use a walker instead of having to be carried around by a facility member, to trying to get their attention on something.  The members of the Carousel Center are great with the children that they have at the facility, they always try to make every child to get involved as much as they can.  An example of this that I had witnessed happened when Shawnee State had the week of the young child fair.  The children of the Carousel Center went to this event for young children and they had different types of activities for children across the region.

What stood out in my mind was that I was so impressed by the faculty members there, because they had assisted all the children there to participate, even those who had severe disabilities, those who couldn’t do the activities by themselves, the faculty literally did the work by themselves, just to let children to experience the same thing as the rest of the children. 

That’s how dedicated the personnel at the center are, and once again I have to applaud them for all of their efforts, just trying to give these children the chance to experience things as other children of their age are doing by themselves, the only difference is that they require some help.
The children are also getting a quality education there, besides of learning their alphabet and knowing the days of the week, classes are getting into subjects that I thought that children at this stage of life wouldn’t be able to grasp, which one class was studying the different planets, and the children took great interest on that, so in my mind they are ahead, because they are learning this at a young age.

But I think the biggest attribute to the Carousel Center has to be that its for all children, not just for the ones that has disabilities, but for all children, and I truly believe in my heart that, that is the best way to learn that we are different, some of us may have handicaps, but we are the same, and the best way that I know how to convey that message to children, or people in general, is through inclusion, and that’s what the Carousel Center is all about.

Really that is the concept all throughout the Scioto County’s MRDD program, and that is to try to integrate most of their clients out in our community by finding jobs that they are able to do.  That is they had used the slogan for years, people you know, because we do know these people in a way, whether we have a family member in the program, a friend of ours, or just know them as a fellow employee, we all know someone who receives assistance with this program. 

And our slogan that we will be running on for this levy campaign, is Team MRDD, because we view that the whole Scioto County is a part of our team, and passing this levy on November the second, will not only benefit those who have jobs for the County’s MRDD program, but it will also continue to provide services that the county comes to expect from us from over the years.
And during this time until November the second, we will have people from the program go into the different parts of the county and explain why these two replacements are necessary both for the individuals who work to provide these services to the clients, and to the clients as well, that depends on the services that they receive in order to maintain the quality of life from the assistance within the program.

All people have dreams of what they would liked to do with their life, and clients of the program are the same way, the only difference is that they require some assistance to aid them with their goals in life, and this is there the program steps in, for that assistance.

I can recall on how much assistance that I had received both from the County’s MRDD program, and from Shawnee State.  I am so grateful for the Scioto county’s MRDD program, first for keep talking to me to go for it, and assisting me with the getting me enrolled there, helping me to live on the campus, and helping me to get my books for the up coming quarter, and some counseling when I needed it, that’s pretty much the services that I received during attending Shawnee from the MRDD program, but I received other services as well from the college who wasn’t associated with the MRDD program.

Really when I needed some things, the college just stepped right in, and assisted me with anything that came up.  I knew that I could go to the people who was working for the MRDD program at any time when I needed some more assistance from them, they were right there, but one things about me is that I like to be as much independent as possible, but I’m sure if I needed some more assistance from them, they would be more than willing to aid me with whatever it took to pursue my dreams.

Observation I think is a powerful tool, especially for young children, the first day that I begun at the center, and four year old boy just crawled to my wheelchair with wonderment, and the faculty members was shocked by this, because I guess he basically just stayed put, but when he first saw me, he crawled to the wheelchair, stood up and walked around it.  That’s how powerful observation can be, it just helped him to interact with someone, and I noticed things like this throughout my time there.

Success stories like mine are made possible through the Scioto County’s MRDD program, with the services that we receive, we are, and others are able to do things that were once out of our reach, but with their assistance, we are able to accomplish those things and more.

Finishing, I am so honored to represent all of the clients all of the faculty workers of the Scioto County’s MRDD program, because they assist people with their dreams, dreams of working, dreams of just having a normal childhood by simply learning how to ride a tricycle, and dreams of moving out to live by yourself, and other things.

These things mean so much an individual like myself who needs assistance in order to fulfill the desire that we have.  And yes, the program assists clients with these services in the pursuit of their dreams, but it also takes the community with the assistance with the program to take these dreams, and make it into a reality.  I still have dreams that I am reaching for, getting a career, finding a place of my own, and with the Scioto County’s MRDD services and through teamwork through the community, I’m taking steps to see that those dreams will come true too, and I want other client’s dreams to come true too. 

And with passing these replacements, it will happen.  So I am strongly urging you to vote yes on November the second, and I thank you for your time.

# # #