The peer advocates and members of the Bitterroot People First Action Club are very busy planning disability awareness activities in conjunction with Bitterroot Glory Days to be held July 2nd, 3rd, 4th at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds. They plan to participate in the parade on Friday and the activities on Saturday to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by providing disability awareness activities including a PowerPoint presentation and quiz on famous people with disabilities, a wheelchair obstacle course, a visually impaired challenge in completing a dot to dot while wearing Vaseline smeared sunglasses.
People First members will be registering people to vote and there will be an AutoMARK voting machine on display. The AutoMARK is a ballot-marking system designed to provide privacy and accessibility to voters who are blind, vision-impaired, or have a disability or condition that would make it difficult or impossible to mark a ballot in the usual way.
People First members continued their cooking classes throughout April and May, but will be taking the summer off. Classes will start up again in September. On June 15th they planted flowers at the Bitterroot Youth Homes, and not only did they enjoy themselves, but the flowers were greatly appreciated, and no doubt will bring joy to others throughout the summer. They had a great outing to the Missoula Carousel at Caras Park on June 17th, helped out with the Kiwanis Fishing Derby on June 19th, and are all looking forward to the celebratory activities during Bitterroot Glory Days. Future community activities are currently in the planning stages. They include the biennial Ravalli County Caregivers Conference, which will be held this fall; coordinating with the Bitterroot National Forest to develop more accessible recreation sites; and the list goes on! It will be a busy summer, and you are all welcome to join in on the activities and help us celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the ADA!
Joanne Verwolf
