SCC Employee Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act at Proclamation Signing

Above: (Back row left to right) Kentucky Office for the Blind Administrator Cora McNabb, Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) Executive Director Buddy Hoskinson, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Deputy Secretary Beth Brinly, Gov. Beshear, OVR Director of Program Services Jane Smith, Kentucky’s first ADA State Coordinator Sharon Fields, and current ADA State Coordinator Jennifer Hicks. (Front) OVR Director of Community Relations and Kentucky Congress on Spinal Cord Injury (KCSCI) President Jason Jones, University of Kentucky Professor and KCSCI Vice-President Sasha Rabchevsky and Statewide Council for OVR/SCC Educational Specialist for Project BEAM and Disability Services Coordinator Chair Joe Cowan.

Joe Cowan, a Somerset Community College (SCC) employee who works as an educational specialist and also as part of the college’s disability services, recently attended the signing of a proclamation by Governor Steve Beshear which recognized the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Cowan also serves as the statewide council chair for the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR). The signing took place July 27 at the capital in Frankfort. The landmark act was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990.

Roughly 874,000 Kentuckians are living with some type of disability and are benefitting from equal access provided under the ADA. The Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), the Kentucky Office for the Blind, the State Independent Living Centers, the state Americans with Disabilities Office, the Kentucky Congress on Spinal Cord Injury and countless other offices and groups that work daily with people with disabilities joined the Governor in applauding the scope and importance of the ADA.
Gov. Beshear states in the proclamation “the ADA has expanded opportunities for Americans with disabilities by reducing barriers and changing perceptions, and increasing full participation in community life for the past 25 years.”

OVR, an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet’s Department of Workforce Investment, assists Kentuckians with disabilities to achieve gainful employment and independence. For more information about services, call the office toll free at (800) 372-7172 or visit http://kentuckycareercenter.ky.gov/OVR/Default.aspx.

Disability services are available at SCC to students who may need assistance in the classroom and on campus. For more information, contact Mary Petry, disability services coordinator, at (606) 451-6706 or by email at mary.petry@kctcs.edu.