My mother and I were at the grocery store. We saw someone we knew, a woman mom had worked with at the county courthouse. Mom held this woman in high regard, a woman who had seen grief up close and personal in the tragic loss of her husband. She and mom were friends. So a couple of years later, here we were at the grocery store. This wonderful person with a good heart, always smiling, had remarried. A newborn was swaddled and wrapped protectively in his blankets, sleeping in the shopping cart. Mom loved children, and babies were especially sweet. She asked to hold him.

“Oh, Goldie,” she said. “He isn’t a normal baby.”

My mom, God bless her, said, “Honey, all babies are beautiful, even yours.” And she proceeded to fuss over the child who was Down Syndrome. I watched the younger mother’s face relax, her gratitude that my mother had not judged her or her child. I saw the compassion my mother showered on her friend, the love she gave in encouragement and support, empathy.

I am talking about something that happened long, long ago when I was a young mother, well before all of the achieved strides of advocacy for people with developmental disabilities, a time when there was great stigma, which is what that mother must have experienced. My mother likely knew there were challenges and obstacles ahead that would try the family.

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, initiated in 1987 to highlight inclusion, contributions and togetherness. The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities says the goal is to raise awareness by having people with and without disabilities sharing their stories about living alongside of each other, sharing resources for education, employment, community living, accessibility and inclusion. Thus, the story I have shared with you in this space today.

One such organization is the Ohio Coalition for Education of Children with Disabilities, which works with parents to help them obtain the assistance they need. To reach the coalition, call (740) 382-5452 for one-on-one assistance or e-mail at ocecd@ocecd.org. OCECD works through coalition efforts of more than 40 parent and professional disability organizations and more than 70 individual members who comprise the coalition. The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Special Education Programs, has funded OCECD since 1984, serving as the Parent Training and Information Center for the state of Ohio.

Gov. Mike DeWine posted a video at YouTube regarding awareness month, announcing that the state budget will ensure “historic investments for priority initiatives through direct support from the professional workforce, technology and other means of investing in innovation to make the state of Ohio more inclusive. Kim Hauck, director of the Department of Developmental Disabilities, urges everyone to create spaces where everyone can participate.

The Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities provides early intervention programs. The School of Bright Promise is offered in Indian Creek, Buckeye Local, Edison Local, Toronto and Steubenville school districts. Classes are comprised of six to eight students with a licensed teacher and at least one teacher’s aide. For information about the programs offered through the JCBDD, visit the website at www.jcbdd.com. Knowledge is a key.

Family Recovery Center has professional staff who are ready to listen when you have no one else to talk to. The goal is for the health and well-being of all. For information about the agency’s treatment and education programs, contact FRC at 1010 N. Sixth St., Steubenville; by phone (740) 283-4946; by e-mail at info@familyrecovery.org; or by visiting the website at www.familyrecovery.org. FRC is funded in part by the Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board.

(Brownfield is a publicist with the Family Recovery Center.)