It's March and while most people think of March Madness or Lent or Mardi Gras or St. Patricks Day, it's an important month for me and the clients I work with. As some of you may or may not know, I work for Arc, but a chapter in NJ (not gonna get specific as people might stalk me ) and I happen to work with the month this awareness is all about. I honestly think it's important to bring awareness to the men and women I work with only because no one really thinks about them.

I work with a wide range of clients and I enjoy each and every moment with them because I feel like I'm doing something good, and also because I always learn something new from them. It's rewarding in so many ways and even though it drives me insane sometimes, I really hope that I make an impact with them.

I also happen to like this because it helps to bring awareness with what goes on with the clients I work with. Awhile back the Governor of New Jersey, Mr. Christie, wanted to raise the Cost of Care that my clients pay each month from 75% to 90%. The self-advocacy groups and I know my union fought tooth and nail to prevent this because it would've hurt our guys terribly. I remember writing letters to all my state representatives arguing against this and shot off a letter or two to Christie himself. Needless to say they fought against this and won and that was a really proud moment for this.

Another thing that I've been witness to was The R-Word Campaign, which was to strike the word "Retarded" from all laws and such in NJ and they won.

A lot of times people ask me what it's like working with those people and I usually see red when I hear that and immediately correct them. They aren't second class citizens, but human beings, and I've realized how much people forget this but I'm glad my clients correct people when they're around because some of the things my clients say is just hilarious. I remember one time I was with a client food shopping when someone came up to him saying that he was a special person. He looked at the lady and said "Lady, I'm developmentally disabled, not stupid so stop talking to me like a toddler." The woman turned bright red and apologized and walked away.

Any who I feel like I'm rambling and gonna head out. If you wanna know more about this, feel free to ask me or look up Developmental Disabilities Awareness month.

Loves!

Eric