The Access Center for Independent Living (ACIL) staff helped to bring out disability awareness at a luncheon held by the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center (MVFHC) on April 4th.
MVFHC holds a luncheon every April in partnership with Dayton REALTORS to commemorate National Fair Housing Month, to shed light on fair housing-related issues, and to recognize individuals who fight for awareness and equality in the housing industry. The theme of the 2024 Fair Housing Luncheon was “Fair Housing was the Promise— Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the Reckoning.”
This intention of the theme of the luncheon as to reinforce the Fair Housing Act’s promise that all people have a chance at the American dream, regardless of their race, color, national origin, sex, religion, familial status, or disability, as well as the locally protected classes of age, source of income status, marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression.
Individuals who attended the luncheon could choose between two fair housing seminars including a three-hour condensed version of ACIL’s Think This Is Easy? (TTIE) entitled Fair Housing and Disability Awareness for Realtors and a one-hour seminar hosted by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of Dayton REALTORS regarding expanding and enhancing agent portfolios.
TTIE consists of activities or stations that simulate various types of disabilities or impairments including cognitive, visual, speech hearing, dexterity and mobility. Each training activity is performed by an ACIL staff member, board member, or volunteer, most of whom have some type of disability and often the disability being experienced.
“TTIE was attended by about 40 people. We could not speak to them as much as disability history or views of disability in society as we normally would since we were a slightly shorter version of the training for the luncheon, but we got a lot of positive feedback. People seemed really surprised at how difficult it was to talk with marshmallows stuff in their mouth at the speech impairment station and how difficult it was to fasten a button with their fingers constricted at the dexterity impairment station,” said Dylan Boot, Independent Living Specialist at ACIL.
Among the people who participated in TTIE at the luncheon was Montgomery County Commissioner Carolyn Rice. Commissioner Rice enjoyed the condensed TTIE so much that she has scheduled to go through the full version of the training at the end of May.
The theme highlighted 21st century diversity goals of local, state, and national housing trade organizations to achieve diverse and sustainable communities free from discrimination by leveraging the talents of every individual. In that spirit, Dayton REALTORS gave annual awards to individuals fighting for equality in the housing industry.
The Marie Kindrick Fair Housing Award, which is given each year to a community professional who demonstrates an outstanding commitment to fair housing principles, was one of the awards given. Maria Matzik, Education and Advocacy Specialist at ACIL was the 2024 recipient. Maria was given the award in recognition of her contributions to an accommodations guide intended for any agency serving those with disabilities, outlining how to properly accommodate with various types of impairments that she and other advocates created.
“ACIL was proud to have TTIE be a part of the MVFHC luncheon and ever prouder to have Maria’s work recognized by Dayton REALTORS We have a great relationship with MVFHC that I hope will continue to flourish in the future,” said Jeremy Caffee, Executive Director at ACIL.
Want to learn more MVFHC? Visit http://mvfairhousing.com/. For more information or to schedule training contact Jeremy at 937-341-5202 Ext 101 or [email protected].
