Each March, communities across the country observe Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM)—a national recognition first proclaimed in 1987 to highlight the contributions, leadership, and rights of people with developmental disabilities and to promote full inclusion in all areas of community life.

In 24 L’Arche communities across the United States, people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) share life together, not as a program, but as friends, colleagues, housemates, advocates, and leaders.

Here, disability awareness is tangible.

It looks like a house meeting where someone with IDD facilitates the conversation. It sounds like laughter in a kitchen while dinner is prepared side by side. It feels like a board member with a disability offering insight that reframes the entire discussion. It looks like a dance floor filled with joy, or a quiet moment of prayer led by someone whose voice might otherwise be overlooked in the world.

This month gives us at L’Arche an opportunity to pause and name what we witness every day.

We celebrate the leadership of people with IDD who guide decisions, shape culture, and model inclusive leadership in tangible ways. We tell stories and amplify voices from our communities so the wider world can hear perspectives too often marginalized. We advocate for policies that protect dignity, access, and community-based living. And we invite new people into authentic friendships across difference, relationships that transform everyone involved.

But perhaps most importantly, this month reminds us of something simple and powerful: disability is one part of a person’s story, not the whole story.

L'Arche Chicago members make food in the kitchen
L'Arche Twin Cities team member speaks with microphone
L'Arche Tahoma Hope members pose in front of a table with prayer items
L'Arche GWDC, Frederick, and USA members pose for a photo

People with IDD are artists whose work fills our walls with color. Employees whose dedication strengthens workplaces. Siblings, neighbors, and friends who show up when they are needed. Board members and prayer leaders. Public speakers and culture-shapers.

When the voices and leadership of people with IDD are centered, communities grow more inclusive, more hopeful, and more human.

This kind of community does not happen by accident.

It is sustained by relationships, by intentional support, and by partners who believe that belonging matters. Because of our donors and supporters, L’Arche communities have the resources to cultivate inclusive leadership, protect safe and dignified homes, amplify authentic voices, and advocate for a more just society. Your partnership makes it possible for this vision of community to take root and flourish.

The leadership of the IDD community does not just strengthen L’Arche, it strengthens us all.

JOIN US!

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is an invitation. Here are a few ways you can participate:

  • LISTEN to the stories and leadership of people with IDD in your community.
  • FOLLOW along on social media as we share reflections and glimpses from L’Arche.
  • ADVOCATE for policies that protect dignity, accessibility, and community-based living.
  • INVITE someone new into relationship across difference.
  • SUPPORT the ongoing work of L’Arche as we build communities where everyone belongs.

Awareness is the beginning, and belonging is the goal. Together, we can build a more inclusive world.