Dan Ottke, Superintendent, 2040 U.S. Highway 50 Batavia, OH 45103

Phone: 513.732.7000

Self Advocacy at Clermont DD

The Aktion Club of Clermont County, Ohio is the self advocacy group that works in partnership with the Clermont County Board of Developmental Disabilities and the Kiwanis Club of the East Fork Region.

Self advocates exercise their rights as citizens by communicating and representing themselves. They have a say in decision-making in all areas of their daily lives and in public policy decisions that affect them.

Meet our officers and learn about upcoming meetings by clicking on our brochure link:  Aktion Club Brochure

2022 Self Advocate of the Year
Abby Minardi

Abby joined the self advocacy group last year.  She takes minutes for the Aktion Club meetings in the Secretary role.  She took it upon herself to attend the annual Aktion Club Leadership Conference that took place in July and brought back a TON of information for our group to use. She attended the workshop about community service and brought back 3 service projects she would like to establish with the Aktion Club of Clermont County.

Abby works at Fifth Third Bank and has a great work ethic; she only attends activities that fit around her work schedule because missing work is something Abby never does unless she takes a vacation; in that case, she uses her vacation days very appropriately because she takes her work very seriously.

Abby is also part of the Clermont DD book club. She is an avid reader and always has a lot of good information to share during book club meetings.  Abby speaks up in an appropriate manner and encourages others to do the same.

Self Advocates of the Year

2011 – Amy Jones

2012 – Megan Purtell

2013 – Matt Strickland

2014 – People In Action Group

2015 – Gail Troxell

2016 – Ben Blizzard

2017 – Ethan Stuempfle

2018 – Austin Porter

2019 – Ellen Thompson

2020 – Scott Baker

2021 – John Hicks

2022 – Abby Minardi

History of Self Advocacy at Clermont DD

People In Action was the first self-advocacy group at Clermont DD.  PIA was made up of people who supported each other to speak up and learn to discuss issues that are important to them.  They worked cooperatively with the Clermont County Board of DD to share ideas, promote advocacy education, and improve the quality of services in our county.

In 2017, Clermont County Voices became the new self advocacy group.  In 2018, the name was changed to Clermont County Turn Up the Voices which reminded members to “turn it up” as much as possible!  In December, 2019, the name was shortened to Turn Up Clermont. On March 16, 2022, the group became the Aktion Club of Clermont County, Ohio.