Bainbridge Advocacy Individual Network (BAIN) Center For independent Living will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) on Saturday, July 24, with several activities.

Keynote speaker for the day will be Charles Lamb, an Albany attorney who represents people with disabilities.

The day’s activities will begin with an ADA walk beginning at the Winn-Dixie parking lot on Shotwell Street. Walkers will begin arriving at 8 a.m. and the walk will get underway around 8:30 a.m.

The walk will proceed up Shotwell Street, turn onto Wheat Street and proceed to Bainbridge Middle School on College Street where attorney Lamb will speak and there will be refreshments and simulation sensitivity activities for individuals to participate in and enjoy.

BAIN was founded and is led by award-winning director Virginia Harris, who won the prestigious Natalie Norwood Tumlin Georgia Self Advocate of the Year Award in 2009.

In 1998, the late Ms. Tumlin, for whom Ms. Harris’ prestigious award is named, and 100 of her fellow advocates gathered at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta to kick off the Unlock the Waiting List campaign, a powerful coalition of disability organizations that focus on the Americans With Disabilities Act and other legislation and public policy that impacts the availability of vital community-based services for people with disabilities.

When Ms. Tumlin passed away in 2005, her parents Beth and Bill Tumlin, established the Self Advocate of the Award in loving memory of her to recognize the contributions of individuals with disabilities, who like Ms. Harris and their daughter, have demonstrated masterful advocacy efforts that have consistently made a difference in Georgia.

Director Harris and her BAIN staff invite the public to come out and show their support for people with disabilities.