JACKSON, Mich — I'm your neighborhood reporter Darius Udrys, and I'm here with Jon Hart, who is Executive Director of disAbility Connections — July's "3 Degree Guarantee" beneficiary.
WATCH THE VIDEO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DISABILITY CONNECTIONS:
DisAbility Connections promotes independent living for the disabled in Jackson, Lenawee, and Hillsdale Counties.
Hart explains: "We're a clearing center for people with disabilities to remain as independent in the community as they want to or are able to."
DisAbility Connections was started 100 years ago by the Rotary Club I belong to — the Rotary Club of Jackson.
"We have peer resources, which means they can come and talk to people that have disabilities and get help with goals and plans, we have a durable medical equipment closet, we have some youth training opportunities…and then we do other things, too — like we do a ramp-building project during the summertime," says Hart.
As a Rotary Club, we support the organization to this day through fundraising and volunteer efforts — like building ramps for those who need them.
"There's been a vision of inclusion for a hundred years or more," says Hart of the organization's efforts in our neighborhood, "....and Rotary has been a part of that, to ensure that."
It's that vision of inclusion — and that things can get better for those previously excluded — that Hart says drives his work and the work of the organization.
"In my spiritual tradition, we just are asked: 'what's the one thing that keeps you going everyday?' and mine is: that things can change," says Hart. "And we see that through time. It's people that change things….our life is better because we had people really trying to change things and make things better."
