While doing community service work at Tri-State Industries, St. Joseph High School senior Matthew Payne saw the abilities of those who have developmental disabilities.

His perception was reinforced Tuesday as he watched the 2001 film "I Am Sam" for the first time.

"It was a very good film because of the way everyone was portrayed," Payne said. "There is a significant meaning behind it. We need to accept those with handicaps in our society with no stigmas attached to them."

Payne and other students from his school, along with many others, attended the showings of the movie at Ohio University Southern's Bowman Auditorium. In this movie, Sean Penn plays Sam Dawson, a developmentally disabled man whose 7-year-old daughter is taken away from him by authorities. He and a lawyer, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, fight to get her back.

Sarah Diamond-Burroway, coordinator of grants and special projects for the Lawrence County Board of MR/DD, said she was impressed with the turnout for the movie showings.

"This shows that people are interested in learning more about MR/DD and identifying ways to be more inclusive in our community," she said.

Paul Mollett, Lawrence County MR/DD superintendent, said one aspect of the film that struck him was that not only the lead character's daughter was taken away, but also that no one initially advocated his rights as a parent.

To his knowledge, this has not happened in Lawrence County. However, Mollett said, "Sam" would have that advocacy from the county's Board of MR/DD.

"I would hope that if this had happened in Lawrence County, we would have been there to represent him and support the life he chose to live and his ability to make decisions just as you or I do every day," he said.

After the first of three showings, Kenneth Richey, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, addressed the crowd.

Richey spoke about his career that he has spent working with people with disabilities. However, his work has not only been in his professional life because he had a daughter who was born with a disability. She later died in an automobile accident.

Rather than state why March is MR/DD Awareness Month, he asked the audience the reason for it, to which an audience member replied that it is for people who do not understand others who have disabilities.

Budget cuts have hurt Richey's office, he said. The office has lost $77 million in funding over the past 3 years, he said. However, 87 of the 88 county boards of MR/DD in Ohio, including Lawrence County's, have the ability to generate funding through local levies to keep providing services when the state cuts funding.

Despite cuts in funding, the state has made tremendous progress in dealing with those with developmental disabilities, Richey said.

Richey told a story about a young man who lived in his childhood neighborhood that had cerebral palsy. He and this young man were separated from each other during most of his childhood, Richey said. In the past, people with developmental disabilities were segregated from the population. Now, 97 percent of people with developmental disabilities live in their communities, not in institutions. Besides desegregating those with disabilities, Richey also stressed the importance of boards of MR/DD asking them and their families what they need rather than telling them what they need.