Disability group to offer annual recognition awards

Nominations for the City of Bloomington’s Council for Community Accessibility’s (CCA) annual awards to recognize individuals, businesses and organizations that make Bloomington more disability friendly are now being accepted online until Oct. 11.

CCA is a group that advocates for those with disabilities, promotes awareness and develops solutions to problems with accessibility that disabled community members face.

Anyone in the community is welcome to nominate someone to be recognized for advocating for those with disabilities.

The CCA is made up of volunteers who either have an interest in disabilities, or be a person or have a family member who has a disability.

Craig Brenner, special project coordinator, said the CCA attempts to educate the public about the number of people with disabilities and to help make sure that businesses and other organizations are accessible to those people.

“It’s important for the community to recognize that there are a substantial number of people in our community who have disabilities, and that number is increasing as the population ages,” Brenner said. “Because of those facts, anytime you can bring an awareness of the needs of people with disabilities to the public’s attention, you are doing a service to make our community more accessible.”

Brenner said the awards will be presented at the end of October during an award ceremony. This gives the group ample time to decide who will receive the awards.

The CCA gives out six different awards — the Kristin Willison Volunteer Service Award, the Business Service Award, the Professional and Community Service Award, the Housing Service Award, the Self-Advocacy Award and the Mayor’s Award.

“Basically if it’s a well-written nomination and it shows that a person or a group has really gone above and beyond what’s expected of someone, then they really deserve recognition,” Brenner said.

Mayor Mark Kruzan said Bloomington is making strides to be more accessible for people with disabilities.

“Through the hard work of the CCA and community members, Bloomington continues to improve its accessibility to individuals with disabilities,” Kruzan said in a press release. “I look forward to events that recognize the time, effort and commitment of people who are constantly working to better their community.”

To nominate someone, visit bloomington.in.gov/cca.

Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.