Inclusion can bring joy into the lives of everyone involved. If anything holds us back, it is just fear of the unknown, maybe fear of giving offence. When we participate and interact we learn that we are all just folks of different abilities. Community Living Huntsville supports, serves, and advocates for approximately 200 adults and children in north Muskoka by promoting inclusion, supporting individual rights, and taking action to help people live independently, find employment or volunteer work, and make social connections.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of those supports are based on helping people have a good life as citizens and being included in all aspects of our community \u2013 really the same expectation that you and I have for our own lives,\u201d said Cathy Stroud, Community Living\u2019s Executive Director.<\/p>\n That degree of inclusion can be wildly successful. One of Huntsville\u2019s inclusion success stories \u2013 one of many \u2013 is the way downtown merchants welcomed Donnie Eagles as not just an employee but as a friend and someone they watched out for, accepting him for who he was.<\/p>\n With supports from Community Living Huntsville, Eagles moved into his own apartment in downtown Huntsville after more than 25 years in institutions and group homes. \u201cIn the mid-90s he approached us for a job. Our philosophy is that everybody is capable of work. I knew I wasn\u2019t going to get him to change the way he dressed or looked and they weren\u2019t really conducive to employment,\u201d said Stroud. \u201cMy job was to find the right match and link him to the kind of work where he could be accepted for who he was.\u201d And she did. Eagles continued in that job for more than two decades, clearing Huntsville\u2019s downtown streets of debris and snow and becoming a recognized character by locals and tourists alike.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was standing room only at his funeral (last year), this for a man who had no family, no friends and no supports when he moved here.\u201d (Click here to read Doppler\u2019s earlier story on Eagles\u2019 downtown memorial.<\/a>)<\/p>\n A plaque in downtown Huntsville in memory of Donnie Eagles<\/p><\/div>\n Sheldon Eaton hopes for that same degree of acceptance and since connecting with Community Living has made inroads into the life he dreams of. He shared that after leaving school at 16, able to only read simple words, he experienced social isolation and incurred significant debt due to what he called poor choices. He now lives in his own apartment, has a social network, is almost debt-free, and has become a presenter for the Language Project, a national initiative aimed at educating students on the use of respectful language. \u201cIt is important to me because of my experiences in school. It is important to educate people that words really can hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheldon read his lengthy presentation confidently, an indication of how far he\u2019s come. His next goal: employment. \u201cI am currently on the waitlist for supported independent programs for getting a job. I am really looking forward to exploring opportunities and finding that job that I am dreaming of.\u201d<\/p>\n There are many inclusive employers in Huntsville and others who have been in the past, but there is still work to be done, said Stroud.<\/p>\n\n\t\t
\nCarolyn Misener<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2015\/10\/Plaque-header.jpg\")