Goodbye 2025!

That’s a wrap! It’s time to review the year from different aspects and say “goodbye” to 2025!

Personally

This year was a doozie for your girl. Among other things, 2025 marked one year since the passing of my precious Mother. In case you missed it, you can read my tribute to her here- Love Letter: A Year Without Mom.

It was tough, but I persevered the way she would have wanted me to. She built me to be strong. An array of other challenges tested me this year, too. But thanks to my faith, I overcame them, and I am grateful.

One thing that helped was that my siblings (whom I affectionately call the “Super Coopers”) always band together and help one another during good times and bad.

Advocacy

This year brought even more advocacy opportunities my way. To start, I was once again honored to be the emcee for the Developmental Disabilities Awareness and Advocacy Day Event. This year’s event brought a different type of flair that really got the crowd engaged.

I was also tapped to host the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council’s podcast called “DD Talks”. I really enjoyed interviewing guests and bringing awareness to programs and services that assist Ohioans with disabilities.

Then, the Ohio Disability and Health Partnership invited me to take part in an online training course for Ohio health professionals, and Five Rivers Health Centers, (who provide me with excellent health care), asked me to become a board member.

Finally, the Ohio State University Nisonger Center LEND Program asked me to speak about disability awareness. This made my eleventh year in a row of addressing their students.

The “Make Things Happen” blog is holding its own and continues to share great information. Some of my favorite topics this year included:

• It's Burger Time!, Describing what hamburgers are easiest for me to prepare independently.
• Social Media for Good: How Social Media Helps People with disabilities stay connected.

I also had amazing guest bloggers chime in this year. Two of my favorite collaborations were with my Marketing team members:

• Let's Get Awkward By: Amber Hargett & Shari Cooper, tackling how to handle awkward disability-related questions, and
• Kevin Bacon, E-Dog, K-Pop and WHAT?!, about choosing a name as a first-time grandma

As you can see, this year was an adventure. Since every year brings change, I’m looking forward to what 2026 has in store for me. With this, I say, Goodbye 2025!

Please send your thoughts on this story to our Facebook page or email Shari at s.cooper@gesmv.org