Calendar of Events

The GCDD hosts and sponsors multiple events throughout the year. The events are defined by the agency’s five year strategic plan and legislative agenda. The events, five year strategic plan and legislative agenda are aligned with the agency’s signature program, “The Real Communities Initiative” and its five focus areas: Real Careers, Real Homes, Real Learning, Real Influence and Real Supports.

Disability Day at the Capitol

Disability Day at the Capitol is an extraordinary event where people with disabilities, their families and advocates for disabilities rights rally together at the Georgia Capitol steps with state lawmakers and supporters from across Georgia.  The event is sponsored by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD). It is the largest annual public gathering held during the official legislative session.  More than 2,000 supporters from across the state are expected each year for a day of advocacy activities.

Disability Day has become a tradition for constituents statewide, and many groups convene in Atlanta from cities across Georgia including, Fitzgerald, Macon, Jackson, Lithonia, Glennville, Bogart and Warm Springs.  The event is filled with passion and drive from all participants and it has become common to hear impromptu chanting of, “Count Me In! Count My Vote! Count My Community!”

(Registration for this event has expired but you are still invited to attend our rally on the steps of the state capitol on February 24, from 11am to 12 noon.)

Annual Making a Difference Appreciation Ceremony

The GCDD’s Annual “Making a Difference Appreciation Ceremony” was created to recognize the efforts and dedication of Georgia legislators, media professionals, disability advocates and outstanding GCDD Council members for their distinguished work that enhance the lives of Georgians with developmental disabilities and their families.

The Ceremony includes awards in multiple categories including:

• Legislative Awards
• Advocate of the Year
• Excellence in Media
• Council Member of the Year

Discovery Day

Discovery Day is an annual event organized and hosted by the GCDD. Historically, the event gathers corporate executives, diversity officers, hiring managers and business owners as prospective employers with the objective of discovering and highlighting employment issues as they relate to persons with developmental disabilities.

Recently, in 2009, the GCDD decided to focus on travel and tourism issues affecting persons with disabilities. We invited Chicago’s “Open Doors Organization,” to share its easy access guide to venues and locations in the Windy City for people with disabilities. The program is currently serving as a model for other cities across the country.

At this crucial moment, Discovery Day became the platform for the release of the “Georgia Inclusive Travel & Tourism Concept Paper,” the debut piece from the Georgia Alliance for Accessible Technologies.

This is another example of how GCDD acts as a convener and consolidator of resources and ideas that can create change in all areas of community life for people with developmental disabilities.