We join the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the Central New York Developmental Disabilities Services Office and the area’s many providers of programs and services in celebrating March as National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

This month, the state agency and its partners seek to bring awareness of developmental disabilities and highlight the many ways people with and without disabilities come together to form strong, diverse communities.

While there are certainly numerous issues and challenges we face in developing greater inclusion and opportunity, the world is vastly different for many individuals and families impacted by developmental delays than it was 50 or 60 years ago, when the focus was on institutionalization over inclusion and supervision over self-direction.

Much of this transformation, so far, has been driven by families, who have rightfully sought ways to keep their loved ones engaged and productive members of the community. Likewise, those efforts have been echoed and supported by such area organizations as Upstate Cerebral Palsy, the Arc of Oneida-Lewis Counties, Arc Herkimer, Kelberman, and dozens if not hundreds, of community partners, from local colleges to businesses who have shown that true inclusion benefits not just those with disabilities but us all.

Within the past few years, we have seen the retirement of a pair of local giants in the movement to help those with developmental disabilities live the lives of their choosing — Louis Tehan, who guided and helped create everyday miracles for many years at UCP, and Angela VanDerhoof, who helped take advocacy and inclusion to new heights at the Arc of Oneida-Lewis Counties.

While both agencies are capably served by a new generation of leadership, both Tehan and VanDerhoof should rightly be recognized for their legacies in the field, which continue today.

While some of us may be old enough to remember the days of the old Rome State School, that world and the one these pioneers and their fellow advocates have helped create seem light years — not 50 years — apart.

This year’s state campaign theme encourages us to go Beyond the Conversation, and asks us to celebrate the progress we have made toward community inclusion so far while also thinking bigger and bolder about “what’s next?”

We hope this future includes the continued removal of the barriers many people with developmental disabilities face when seeking meaningful community involvement.

We hope it includes a commitment to helping direct care workers receive the respect and pay that permit many to continue to perform jobs they feel they were called to do.

And we hope that 50 years from now, the changes new generations see will continue to look better, brighter and richer — building on the visions of individuals, families, communities and the legacy of some remarkable leaders in the field.