Have you ever met a person with a developmental disability, and maybe didn’t know what to do? Sammy’s Place is here to help you!
Sammy’s Place is working with our neighbors around the north coast, including Tillamook County, to teach our community about developmental disabilities and Developmental Disabilities Services available to local residents on the Oregon Coast. Do you have a development disability or know someone who does? Are you accessing all the services that are available to you in your community of choice? Sammy’s Place can help you learn about:
- What services are available for people with developmental disabilities in your community,
- How you can connect people to Oregon Developmental Disability Services, and
- What is going on in the community to support people with developmental disabilities.
By now you may be asking yourself, “What is Sammy’s Place?” Or, “Where is Sammy’s Place?” These are great questions, but I sometimes wonder if people really understand the significance of these questions. Sammy’s place is in her school. Sammy’s place is at work. Sammy’s place is on the beach, and in your sports league or social club or church. And Sammy’s Place in the Boardroom, making decisions about their community. Sammy’s place is in the community… But who is Sammy? Sammy is all of us, but most especially Sammy is anyone who feels isolated, abandoned, or ignored and cannot fully participate and thrive in their community. The organization – also called Sammy’s Place – strives to empower and elevate the voices of people with disabilities, specifically people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) so that they can take their place in their community while at the same time working within our coastal communities to make them accessible and welcoming to all people, including those with all forms of disability [which is ultimately everyone].
Sammy’s Place is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization serving Oregon’s rural, coastal Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln Counties. Based in Nehalem, OR, Sammy’s Place envisions a welcoming coastal region where everybody has what they need to fully participate and thrive in their community of choice. Lived experience shows that, while disability is a natural part of life, the Oregon Coast is not yet universally accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities. This means that not everyone can fully participate and thrive in our coastal communities. This is especially the case for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but this really includes all of us as we are aging into disability.
For almost all of us, we will either develop a disability ourselves or have close friends and family who develop a disability. This means that we all stand to benefit from creating the conditions for easy access that allow any individual to participate and enjoy a place, product or service independently and from changing cultural norms, attitudes and perceptions of disability in our community. This drives Sammy’s Place to create new opportunities within the coastal region so everyone can fully participate and thrive in their community of choice. They are currently doing this through three interconnected strategies: (1) They are elevating the voices of people and families experiencing I/DD through their Family Network and peer support services. (2) They are advancing universal accessibility in our local towns along Oregon’s North Coast through a community housing development model that highlights concepts of universal design and living in community. And (3) they are creating a sustainable organization as a long-term resource for the Coast through strategic planning and sound financial stewardship.
To learn more about Sammy’s Place or Developmental Disability Services in your community, reach out to Sammy’s Place through their website at https://sammysplace.info/. Or contact Let Flores directly at leti@oregoncoaast.org.