By Johnna Pinholster
September 05, 2008 11:28 pm
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VALDOSTA — The Mayor’s Council for Persons with Disabilities 15th Annual Awards and Recognition Banquet is set for Sept. 30.
The event will honor businesses and persons in the community that have helped promote awareness for disabled persons within the community.
The Mayor’s Council for Persons with Disabilities began as a federal initiative to bring awareness about issues facing the disabled within communities, Kim Wagner, banquet chairman, said.
National awareness month for persons with disabilities is in October.
Valdosta and Columbus are the only two cities in the state which have a Mayor’s Council, John Armstrong, executive chairperson for the council, said.
“The goal of the council is to promote public awareness and eliminate barriers, not just physical but perceived,” Armstrong said.
Barriers can exist in education, employment and entertainment for persons with disabilities, he said.
The 15th Annual Awards and Recognition Banquet is a way for the Mayor’s Council for Persons with Disabilities to recognize people and businesses within the community that may be overcoming a disability or providing employment or educational opportunities for disabled persons.
Businesses will compete in small, medium and large categories and will face criteria addressing the number of employees with a documented disability, making accommodations for persons with a disability and corporate policies regarding the hiring of disabled persons.
The guest speaker for the banquet will be Valdosta State University President Patrick Schloss.
At the banquet an area student will receive a $500 scholarship.
Wagner said she has already received nominations from the technical school and a high school.
In addition to being nominated, the student is required to write a brief essay detailing how they had to overcome their disability to succeed in the classroom.
Nominations for all categories are due by Sept. 22.
Tickets for the Banquet on Sept. 30 that will be held at the VSU University Center will be $15 at the door.
Last year the council partnered with VSU and the master’s of sociology program to conduct a survey to determine what barriers people with disabilities face in Valdosta, Armstrong said.
The success of that survey prompted Mayor John Fretti to request grant money from the state for a more in-depth survey.
The $10,000 grant has been awarded and both the council and VSU are waiting on guidelines to begin the research project, Wagner said.
The survey will incorporate focus groups, questionnaires and telephone surveys to gather information about how persons with disabilities are perceived in the community and what types of obstacles they may face when trying to perform activities that are considered everyday occurrences for most.
Wagner estimates that the survey will take two semester for VSU to set up and complete.
The council uses feedback from the community through surveys and other means helps gauge what Valdosta needs to better serve people from all walks of life.
The current transportation plan for the city will hopefully incorporate buses that use a hydraulic system that lowers the buses to provide easier access to wheelchair bound persons, Armstrong said.
The toughest part for identify barriers is changing a person and even a business’ perception of a person with disabilities’ role in the community.
Physical barriers are easily identified and far more cut and dry, Wagner said.
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