As
you can well imagine we have been standing by awaiting details about
December 2, 2015 tragic shooting at the Inland Regional Center. On the
day of the attack, during our Direct Support Professionals (DSP)
Southern California conference we stopped for a moment of silence to
reflect on the fact that we are all part of one community and while we
have our different perspectives on supporting people with developmental
disabilities we are all, in the end, one community.
The
brutal attack has so many unanswered questions but what's clear is that
senseless violence and bloodshed occurred in one if our homes, Inland
Regional Center (IRC), and our hearts ache for those who died, those who
are seriously injured, those threatened, and those who's fear on that
day will impact their lives for a very long time if not forever.
By
the week’s end as the details of this week’s horrific shooting unfold
the entire nation remains stunned. However as one gets closer and
closer to the site of this tragedy the personal pain and agony becomes
even more palpable. Additionally for the developmental disabilities
community, yesterday we learned that one of the 14 victims who died in
the shooting was Daniel Kaufman, a direct support professional (DSP) who
provided job training from Pathways in the IRC in-house coffee shop
Coffee N More, working to help people with developmental disabilities
learn to work and be part of their community. Our DSPs provide the most
important supports to people with disabilities and our hearts go out to
the many people who's lives were touched by Mr. Kaufman.
As
we continue to learn more over the next couple of days let us never
forget we are all people in this struggle together and that we are
resilient because we are together and we are stronger and more powerful
than any evil that produced this act of terror.
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
More on Daniel Kaufman: Los Angeles Times, and The Press Enterprise
No comments:
Post a Comment