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Disability Action Center celebrates 60 years of advocacy

Times West Virginian - 8/5/2018

Aug. 05--FAIRMONT -- Annette Keezee started work with the ARC of Marion County in 1986 to help people like her son.

Her son was born with a disability, and at the time, she knew the chances of him finding steady employment would prove to be a challenge because of his disability.

"They didn't have special education, they didn't have classes," Keeze said. "We didn't have work programs, they didn't have any opportunities, basically they stayed at home."

From 1986 to 2003, Keezee served as director of ARC, which was renamed the Disability Action Center in 2009, where she continued its mission of "turning disabilities into possibilities," which began with its founding in 1968. On Saturday, Keezee returned to celebrate the DAC's 60th anniversary, along with the board of directors, the community and many of the clients involved in the center since its inception.

"We have a great open-house 60th anniversary -- a party, really, planned," Julie Sole, the current director of the DAC, said. "It's an opportunity for old friends to come back to the center and visit really kind of where we've been and how far we have come. We are giving tours all day long, there's a petting zoo, there's a bake sale, free hotdogs, free ice cream. It's kind of like a family reunion and a celebration of our accomplishments."

While the anniversary was a celebration that involved food, prizes and milestones from the organization's history, it was also a time of reflection for the staff members, who have seen the center go from a small office space to the community partner it is today.

"We were an organization that just was primarily trying to fill some time for our clients because they didn't have the opportunities to be out in the community," Judy Tatterson, a board member of the DAC who has been involved for nearly 40 years, said. "This building was given to us as a gift, and it has just expanded and we have all kinds of programs all week long.

Sole also recalled the organization's beginnings, and commented on the current space it occupies on Benoni Avenue, and also discussed the change in name that took place at the same time.

"The ARC of Marion County used to operate in two rooms in the Professional Building," Sole said. "Since that time, we've expanded our programs, we moved into this facility in 2009. In 2009 is when we really took the big leap forward; we changed our name from the ARC to the DAC, a more proactive name that really signifies what we do.

We are in action constantly, we are learning constantly, we are growing constantly and we are giving back to the community constantly."

Sole said the DAC helps around 450 clients annually, with the base growing almost every year. Tatterson also first got involved because her child was born with a disability, and seeing the general public become more accepting of these individuals over the years is almost as satisfying as seeing the progress being made by individuals she's worked with.

"The big thing that has changed is that a lot of these folks are now gainfully employed in the community where before that was not even thought of," Tatterson said. "My daughter worked for 21 years and enjoyed it and it was great for her, it gave her something to do, something to look forward to just like any other person.

"We've enriched and broadened their lives, and ours too, we've learned a lot."

The DAC has helped place its clients in jobs and positions in which they can individually excel, and many of these individuals were present Saturday for the anniversary. Some of these clients helped out behind the scenes of the celebration, preparing hot dogs and ice cream for those in attendance.

"Everybody's been really supportive," Maggie DeNoon, employment specialist at the DAC, said. "The clients, it gives them an opportunity to see some old faces, to assist in serving. We have some serving ice cream who are representing Pufferbelly's because they are employed there now, some are jumping in and helping with cooking and serving. They like to help."

As Keezee explained, proving that these individuals can operate on every level is the goal of the DAC, and with 60 years of the center down, she believes they have shown exactly that.

"It's been 60 years of building an exclusive community; I think we've done that," Keezee said. "We see our people with disabilities out doing the same activities that every individual is doing now.

"That's what it's all about, for them to have the same opportunities as everyone else."

Email Eddie Trizzino at etrizzino@timeswv.com and follow him on Twitter at @eddietimeswv.

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