Meet Your Neighbors 2010 is a community awareness campaign which enables the public to interact and learn about people with all types of disabilities in Kern County. This campaign includes a variety of activities, events and seminars during the month of October 2010, coordinated by Kern Regional Center (KRC), Rotary Clubs of Bakersfield and H.E.A.R.T.S. Connection.  Other events are scheduled throughout the year as well.

This  project builds on a collaborative effort for the local Buddy Walk in 2008. Working with the local Buddy Walk founder, Tracy Brown, KRC and Rotary organized a program that raised about $20,000. The planning group included representatives from all local Rotaries, an unusual accomplishment in that Rotarians often pride themselves on friendly competition between clubs and rarely engage in the same project together. The planning group for Buddy Walk 2008 decided to expand the effort in 2009 to focus on all disabilities.

Amongst the diverse demographic groups that comprise our community, the developmentally disabled may be the most frequently overlooked and misunderstood. In the State of California, a developmental disability is manifested before the person reaches 18 years of age, which constitutes a substantial disability to the affected individual, and is attributable to mental retardation or related conditions which include cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism or other neurological conditions when such conditions result in impairment of general intellectual functioning or adaptive behavior similar to that of a person with mental retardation.

Public understanding of physical disabilities is also important, as this condition could happen to anyone as the result of an accident or injury. Physical disability is defined as a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities, such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying. A disabling condition prevents one from performing all usual physical or mental functions. This usually means a permanent state, like blindness, but in some cases is temporary. Of note, the disability may not be readily apparent, in which case it is called a hidden disability. Examples would be asthma or diabetes. About 22.5% of the Kern County population over the age of five has some sort of disability.

Currently, more than 50 different agencies provide services of some kind to the disabled population of Kern County. A few of these organizations sponsor community events to promote their specific services, such as the Mud Volleyball Contest sponsored by the Epilepsy Society. However, a coordinated community-wide effort to include all types of disabilities has yet to be established. The planning team for Buddy Walk 2008 learned that there are churches, service groups, health care providers, the arts community and others who would support such an organized outreach effort. This is a project that is ripe for the picking!

The month of October is ideally suited for outreach and awareness activities related to the disabled, as it is already formally designated as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, National Down Syndrome Awareness Month, World Blindness Awareness Month and National Physical Therapy Month. The hot summer weather in Bakersfield is finally cooling, which also makes it an excellent time to schedule outdoor activities.

Any organization that provides services to the disabled is welcome to participate in this project. The Meet Your Neighbors (MYN) steering committee will provide the opportunity and framework for participation, and will publicize all events to the public. Interested parties are encouraged to plan their own event, based upon their mission and target audience. The deadline for inclusion of an events in publicity materials for October 2010 was June 15, 2010.  Please submit other activities on our calendar page under the suggest an event link.