Click here to read this year's Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities special section.

Since 1957, the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities (ACBDD) has been serving eligible Athens County citizens who have developmental disabilities, such as autism, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, epilepsy and other conditions that are manifested before age 22.

The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities provides early intervention services to children birth through two years of age who are experiencing a delay in development or have a diagnosed physical and/or mental condition.

The Richards family (Salem, James, Jovia, Benjamin, and older brother Mayer) is one such family. They have been receiving services from the Early Intervention program for just over a year. A friend advised them to contact their local Birth to Three program (HMG) when they adopted two children from Uganda with special needs in October 2011.

For more than 50 years, Beacon School has offered a specialized curriculum to address the individual differences of students from the five local school districts in Athens County students who have special needs.

My five-year-old son, Kyle, is in Beth MacCombs' preschool class at Beacon.

I was born and grew up in Athens and have always known Beacon was there. I knew that it was for students with special needs, but I had never had any personal experience with it and, to be honest, didn't fully understand what the school was like or what they did there. Now that Kyle is in his second year of preschool, I feel blessed that such a wonderful place is so accessible right here in our own community.

For over 40 years Atco has been providing support and services to Athens County adults with developmental disabilities. Today Atco Adult Services is working with approximately 180 individuals, offering a wide range of programs and services.

Jill Watson has attended Atco Adult Program since she graduated from Beacon School in June 2006. Jill's education at Beacon School focused on learning independence in daily living, communication skills, adapted physical education and a variety of therapies such as speech, physical, and occupational therapies. Her activities with Atco Adult Program continue to expand upon that foundation.

For people without a vehicle, finding available transportation in Athens County can be difficult. Finding accessible transportation is even more problematic. Coordination and collaboration between agencies, government officials, and local community members can be a solution to helping people in need of specialized transportation get to work, medical appointments, social services, leisure activities and shopping.

The ACBDD Transportation Department often goes unnoticed by the public. However, without the reliable services provided by them, much of the services provided by the other programs might go unused by many of the people who most benefit from them.