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Look at my ability, not my disability!
Posted On 07 Mar 2017
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Sarah Palk with her service dog, Mikey.
A one-day exhibit debuts celebrating March as National Disability Awareness Month.
Canton resident Sarah Palk is not messing around when she looks you in the eye and wants to tell you something. She will continue eye contact with you to engage you in asking questions. If the answer is yes, she will look up and if the answer is no, she’ll look down.
Sarah has a developmental disability, uses a wheelchair and communicates on a laptop with the touch of a button she controls with her head. It’s a pretty cool piece of technology, and that’s why Sarah wants to share her knowledge about disability-related fun facts at the debut of her “Possibility and Disability Exhibit” at the Wayne Historical Museum on Wednesday, March 15th from noon-3:00 p.m.
“I want to show the community the positive aspects of having a disability,” said Sarah. “There is so much information out there, and I have always wanted to share it with people so I thought creating a “disability exhibit” would be the best way to do it.”
The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will focus on four main areas: The History of Special Education with a special focus on McGrath Elementary in Wayne (one of the first special education schools in the county), People’s Accomplishments and Technological Advancements. The fourth area is Sarah’s favorite because it displays information on Service Dogs. “My service dog is my employee, he works for me and people should know how to be around a working dog,” said Sarah.
Sarah receives assistance from Community Living Services. CLS is a non-profit, 501 c3 organization providing support and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. CLS is funded through the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Authority, Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority and Macomb County Community Mental Health. For more information contact them at (734) 467-7600 or visit their website at www.comlivserv.com.
