#AdvocacyMatters: Year in Review
December 20, 2024 / #AdvocacyMatters
The end of another year brings with it time for gratitude and reflection. In this spirit, we recognize and celebrate some victories in our work before moving into 2025. Like all our accomplishments, they wouldn’t be possible without your support - our larger disability rights community - and our dedicated DRO staff. Here are a few things we are extraordinarily proud of this year.
We fought hard this year for the rights of disabled students. One of the biggest being our current federal lawsuit with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This federal lawsuit is the current next step in our years-long effort to safeguard the rights of disabled students at Warren County Educational Service Center (“WCESC”). This journey has been a long one, but one we are proud to continue. In 2025, we carry on the fight so that the rights of students and their families in service centers just like this one will always come first. You can read all the details of this case here.
Along with legal protection, we were also involved in advocacy and the education of transition-aged youth with disabilities. This year gave us a major project with the help of a grant from the Developmental Disabilities Council to highlight important transition services through meaningful videos in both English and Spanish, giving access to transition information to a traditionally undeserved community. You can learn more about these videos and watch them here.
None of this advocacy would be possible without disabled voices having a seat at the table where decisions are being made. Each of our teams were introduced to our legislators, representatives, and their staff at our monthly Legislative Information Sessions. With these sessions, we hope to continue to strengthen our bonds with those who make decisions that directly affect disabled Ohioans while educating them on the work that we do.
While these three actions were just three highlights of the year for us, they do not happen without your support. If you like what we do here at DRO and want to see more of the work that is so vital in our state, you can donate to our mission here. #AdvocacyMatters