DISABILITY AWARENESS WORKSHOP: OCTOBER 17th
Please join us for a Disability Awareness Workshop on October 17th at 4 PM in the Gallagher Center Multipurpose Room. The workshop will provide insight, materials, and tools to ensure the community understands and initiates inclusion for all individuals with disabilities. Proven techniques and already established programs will be introduced.
This training will introduce and explain inclusion and its components, including employment, spirituality, education, service provision, person first approaches, community and municipalities introduction, and advocacy. It will explain progressive models that are currently funded in WNY and active. It will provide the startup tools and information to advance the cause in places of worship, towns, public venues, schools, and businesses, all driven by the service provider.
David Whalen has been in the field of disabilities since 1986, starting his career at Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara, where he worked for 17 years and was cited for several progressive program achievements. He started Disability Awareness Training in 2004 and has since done over 400 presentations, of which at least 50 have been to provider agencies. David is currently the statewide project coordinator at Niagara University’s First Responder Disability Awareness Training grant. He sits on the NYS Independent Living Council, the Erie County Disability Advisory Board, and chairs the Town of Amherst’s Committee on Disabilities. David Whalen’s Town Hall Training program was identified at the FEMA Get Real II conference as a promising practice by three states and four counties.
