Motivational speaker Christopher Milo helps Portage County celebrate DD Pride in March

Motivational speaker Christopher Milo appeared at "An Evening with Christopher Milo" at Independence of Portage County as part of a series of talks during DD Pride Month in March.

This month, The Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities has brought Milo in to speak with schools around the county about his “13 Messages from Milo” program.

Milo has addressed more than 100,000 students, parents and educators on topics of leadership, bullying, suicide, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, cutting and other forms of self-harm, according to his website. He embraces students with developmental disabilities, autism, cancer and diabetes. The activist has built relationships with state hospitals and children’s services agencies and has partnered with many Ohio educational service centers, according to his biography.

Milo is working with the Summit County Educational Service Center in Akron and the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Board to launch his mentoring program.

March was declared Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in 1987 when President Ronald Reagan urged Americans to provide people with developmental disabilities “the encouragement and opportunities they need to lead productive lives and to achieve their full potential.”

In 2022, Portage DD and a group of people they serve rebranded DD Awareness Month as DD Pride Month. The agency felt that awareness wasn’t enough and March should be about celebrating everyone’s abilities and uniqueness.

This year, Portage DD’s slogan is “My ability is stronger than my disability.” The slogan and design were created by Teddy Carlson and can be found on Portage DD’s #DDPrideMonth shirt.