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Award presented for efforts to make life better for the disabled

A local special needs centre and the City of Red Deer were honoured Monday for making life better Albertans with disabilities.

A local special needs centre and the City of Red Deer were honoured Monday for making life better Albertans with disabilities.

The awards from the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities were made at The Hub to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a 20-year-old United Nations celebration of persons with disabilities and those who support them.

The non-profit Aspire Special Need Resource Centre received the Award of Excellence in Education for its Early Access to Supportive Education School, a preschool for children ages two to six with severe disabilities.

The City of Red Deer received the Award of Excellence in Community for making the city more accessible for people with disabilities through initiatives such as public consultation, better transit and reduced facility costs.

Kim Skibsted was named a Marlin Styner Achievement Award winner for her work with Visionaries, a vision loss support group.

Also honoured were community recognition recipients Heritage Lanes, Z99/CKGY and True-Line Homes. Employment recognition recipients included AG Foods, Home Depot and Sobey’s.

The day ended with Grade 8 students at Normandeau School experiencing life with disabilities. They played wheelchair basketball, learned about blindness and vision loss and learned to cope without proper muscle skills.