Dear Compass readers,
Happy Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month! This annual celebration offers our community a chance to pause, reflect, and think about where we are headed. The theme of this month’s newsletter – “Awareness Starts with Access to Information” – is the perfect place to start.
I began my work at the TN Council on Developmental Disabilities seven years ago in a communications role. Not long after I joined the staff, our communications team chose to make plain language a priority for our work. We saw every day that hard-to-understand information was a major barrier for people with disabilities and their families. Let’s face it: none of us has time to wade through jargon and complex service definitions to figure out how to get the answers and help we need. This motivates us to make disability information as clear and accessible as possible. We also look to Pathfinder as a critical information partner.
Our Council partnered with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center more than 30 years ago to address the huge information gap for Tennessee’s disability community. That’s how TN Disability Pathfinder was born! Over the years, Pathfinder has grown and modernized to become our state’s central hub for finding disability information. It’s the answer to a question so many of us have struggled with: How do I even know where to start?
In 
March, we celebrate all that people with developmental disabilities add to our communities. We renew a commitment to making sure each person gets the support they need to thrive. That journey to the right support begins with awareness – and access to clear, easy-to-understand information. We at the Council are proud to continue to support Pathfinder as the compass to help us get there.
Be well, everyone!
Jolene Sharp
Chief Strategy Officer
Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities