GVRA Celebrates Disability Employment Awareness Month at Annual Awards Ceremony

What better way to acknowledge National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) than by attending the annual NDEAM Awards ceremony, hosted by the Center on Human Development and Disability at University of Georgia’s David Ralston Institute for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD)!

Now in its fifth year, the theme was “Celebrating Value and Talent.” Several GVRA staffers, including Executive Director Dr. Kirk Shook, were at the Tubman African American Museum in Macon to honor the contributions of people with disabilities in Georgia’s workforce.

Our own Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Support Employment Specialist, Sharon De Mille, a GVRA counselor who retired with 24 years’ experience---and who was subsequently re-hired on a part-time basis---took home the System Navigator award. The System Navigator award is given each year to an employee who demonstrates vast knowledge of all facets of vocational rehabilitation. "I am very grateful for the chance to be involved in such an important collaboration, between the two agencies, GVRA & DBHDD.  I am also grateful for the recognition this award brings not just to me, but to the important work we are doing to deliver services to a population, I/DD, who often have complex needs and truly need Supported Employment to achieve their work goals", says Sharon.