Conversation with Marla Doss

Since Marla Doss joined the team at Community Haven for Adults and Children Disabilities 30 years ago, she got married, had a child and survived a battle with cancer. But she's also watched the organization transform from a center-based program to one that services the community as a whole.

As CHAC’s president and CEO, Doss most recently oversaw the rezoning of CHAC’s campus last year and the start of construction on a new group home for disabled adults. 

In the coming years, she’ll focus on raising funds to pay for a Haven Industries building, another group home and a senior center, among other projects, to meet the future needs of individuals with disabilities. 

Individuals with disabilities are so much more a part of our communities (than they were 30 years ago). They are employed in local businesses and industries and are residents in our local neighborhoods. Because of these positive changes and the integration of disabled individuals in our communities, many of the misconceptions and stigmas that once labeled an individual with physical and developmental disabilities are no longer as prevalent. 

Our next project is to address the needs of senior citizens with disabilities. We are their future. We are their present. We are going to have to continue to be their extended family. This is the first generation of disabled adults outliving their parents. We have to provide that continuum of care, take care of their medical needs, their daily needs, their social needs. 

As recently as 10 to 15 years ago, disabled individuals were in sheltered institutional settings, with little to no opportunity to enjoy our communities, let alone feel like they were an equal part of a greater community.     

Our clients are living to seniorhood. Years ago, it was unusual for individuals with disabilities to live beyond their 40s, and we serve adults that are nearly 80 years of age. Our clients are living much longer quality lives through safe, healthy, engaging programs. 

Our clients want to be part of a greater community. They want to be included. They have the same goals that you and I have; they’re no different. Our clients are so proud and so grateful. I have never worked with a group of people who are so grateful. Greet them with open arms. 

I would tell the community you’re really missing out on humanity if you’re not discovering a little more about people with disabilities. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I take nothing for granted, that’s for sure.

If you would have asked me in 1985...that (disabled individuals) would soon be living on their own or working in the community, I would have never believed it. There were so many stigmas. I would have never thought they could survive without this 24-hour care, but that’s not true.

They want and need to earn a paycheck. Every person in that Haven Industries building gets a paycheck. Many of them have moved out and are enjoying the great community as much as we are. I think there’s a much greater acceptance now of people with disabilities working and living out in the community.

The biggest stigma I continue to see is our community does not fully recognize the capabilities of what people with disabilities can offer. For example, the community may be thinking they need to be coddled, but in fact, when (clients are) given opportunities to work or learn sign language to better their communication, they want to embrace that. Our disabled population embraces challenges because they don’t see themselves as being different from the rest of us. The community may not be able to grasp that.

The most critical issue facing our organization is funding. The financial support to keep this 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year program functioning with quality and in a safe secure community is substantial. Government funding does not come close to covering the day to day needs of the children, teens and adults that we serve. Thankfully we have local foundations, county government, United Way of Manatee County, school board, as well as private donors and fundraising events to assist in offsetting our expenses. 

This organization makes a difference at the moment I see a child with physical disabilities take their first step, a teenager with a disability pass their FCAT exams, or a severely developmentally disabled adult earns their very first paycheck from Haven Industries. I have the privilege of visiting with parents, guardians, grandparents and foster parents who consistently express to me that they do not know what they would do without Community Haven. Our services touch the entire family. That is how I know our organization has been making a difference in the lives of disabled individuals since 1954.