March is Disability Awareness Month and ICADV is helping to promote the Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities’ campaign: Be Cool. We Are.
Be Cool. We Are.
No matter the differences between people, it is always better to treat others the way you want to be treated, and this is especially true when interacting with friends, co-workers, and other Hoosiers who live with disabilities. The 2018 Indiana Disability Awareness Month campaign theme – Be Cool. We Are. – is all about the importance of being comfortable in your own skin and making the conscious decision to be yourself, because acting different around someone with a disability isn’t cool.
Last year, more than 40,000 Hoosiers were reached through grassroots special events and education programs coordinated by advocates with the help of the Council’s activity packets and resources. ICADV continues to support these efforts by ordering an awareness kit each year, volunteering to help assemble awareness kits, and sharing key messages that support each year’s theme on our website and through social media.
Get Involved!
Visit IndianaDisabilityAwareness.org to download free campaign artwork and activity planning resources, including different informational packets with specialized offerings to a variety of audiences. Feel free to download and use as many of the packets as you wish and share copies with others! Domestic violence programs may be interested in the following resources:
- Building Middle School and High School Volunteer Programs
- Increasing Awareness About Community Access Issues and the ADA
- Volunteerism as Advocacy
- Making Your Community a Livable Community
ICADV’s Work
Throughout the month, ICADV will be sharing more about the projects we work on with individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. ICADV consults with these individuals, who share their knowledge and lived experience to help develop prevention strategies. This year, we are expanding these projects under the Rape Prevention and Education grant, to include a prevention capacity training program for disability service organizations, as well as as working directly with Self Advocates Indiana to create a Speakers Bureau.