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Representatives of more than thirty organizations were on hand in the Government Center lobby on October 7, 2010 for Disability Awareness Day. Sponsored by the Fall River Commission on Disability, the event served to underscore the importance of providing services to the large disabled population that live in or near the City. The event wcoincides with the 20th anniversary of the Americans with the federal Disabilities Act which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications and governmental activities. Speakers included Lisa Pitta, Executive Director of the Southeast Center for Independent Living and Peg Anderson, Area Director for the Mass. Rehabilitation Commission. Other organizations represented included  the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, People Incorporated, Bristol Elder Services, Ron's Wheelchair Repair, DEAF, Inc. and ATG Rehab. Click here for the Herald News article. For more information, contact Dr. Henry Vaillancourt at 508-324-2401.
 

(Top row, left) Professor Lester Cory of the SHARE Foundation at UMass-Dartmouth accepts a check for $20,000 from the Fall River Commission on Disability for their continued work on the engineering of adaptive technology for persons with disabilities as Dennis Polselli of the Audible Local Ledger and Paul Remy look on. (Top row, center) Director of Veteran's Services Ray Hague accepts a check for $20,000 from Fall River Commission on Disability member William Fontaine as Mayor Flanagan and Public Health Director Dr. Henry Vaillancourt look on. (Top row, right) Fall River Community Maintenance Director Ken Pacheco, Mayor William Flanagan, Director of Veteran's Services Ray Hague, Public Health Director Dr. Henry Vaillancourt, and Disability Commission member William Fontaine look on as Fall River Public Library Director Paula Cullen is presented with a check for $20,000 to enable the Library to purchase equipment to assist readers with limited vision. (Middle row, left) Health Department Administrative Assistant Brenda Ritz helps Sandy Bergeron and Dennis Polselli of the Audible Local Ledger of Cape Cod hold a replica of a $2,000 check given by the Disability Commission for assistance with turning print into sound for persons with limited vision. (Middle row, right) Ethan McCarthy of DEAF, Inc. in New Bedford talks with Brenda Venice, President of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Fall River at the display tables. (Bottom row, left) Corine Irving of Fall River talks with Arlene Fernandes, Clinical Coordinator of Day Services at People, Inc. (Bottom row, center) Jonathan O'Dell of the Mass. Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing talks with sign language interpreter Anna Purcell. (Bottom row, right) Assistant City Clerk Ines Leite swears in Ken Pacheco and William Fontaine as members of the Commission on Disability.  

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