RAPID CITY, S.D. — Rapid City Mayor Jason Salaman and a number of vendors came out to help celebrate Americans with Disabilities Act Day on Friday at Main Street Plaza.
The act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local programs and services.
“So curb cuts, voting, accessible entrances and exits, all of the things that people with disabilities take for granted, we owe it all to the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said Tammy Hopf, chair of the Rapid City Disability Awareness and Accessibility Committee.
On this hot day, the resource fair featured a variety of vendors doing some unusual activities for the disability community.
“We have groups that help people with mental illnesses, people with autism. We have physical therapists. We have people that help deaf people in the deaf community. We have Black Hills Works, an organization that helps disabled people in the community. It’s really everybody,” Hopp said.
There are many people with disabilities working in the region. We looked into who the biggest employers of people with disabilities are in the region.
“Well, Monument Health is the largest employer of people with disabilities in the area, but we also have retailers like Black Hills Bagels and Pizza Ranch on board and they value their disabled employees,” Hopf said.
The mayor made the proclamation at this event, one year after his first as mayor at this same resource fair, which featured free lunch, smiling faces and an atmosphere of truly caring people.