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Accessibility Statement
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About


As the Commonwealth’s Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities (VBPD) engages in outreach, advocacy, funding, and other activities that expand and improve the state’s service systems and promote community integration, person-centered practices, and self-determination.

To support the many local, state, and national initiatives that share these goals, VBPD has initiated ABLE TO CHOOSE to raise awareness among all Virginians that individuals with disabilities of all types and degrees can and do live successfully in communities of their own choice when individually appropriate services and supports are available to them.

ABLE TO CHOOSE currently uses community events, press coverage, public service announcements, web activity, promotional materials, and other grassroots and mass media activities to motivate all Virginians to become more involved in guaranteeing civil rights, equal opportunity, and community inclusion for everyone, with and without disabilities.  

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Globehopper: The Sara Ruh Story

Sara Ruh has always had big dreams. Today, she is paid to travel the world to talk about them.  At 21 years of age, Ruh, who has Down syndrome, has appeared on magazine covers, educated legislatures, and effectively advocated for people with a wide array of disabilities around the globe.

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