Featured Family: Meet Cecilia Coble

Disability Inclusion Champion

By Darolyn "Lyn" Jones; Photos by 21 Vines Photography

first met Fishers City Councilor

At-Large, Cecilia Coble, in Children’s TherAplay’s hippo therapy waiting room. My son, Will, was a little over a year old and Cecilia’s daughter, Crysta, was a year older than Will. We sat there across from each other with our children on our laps waiting to go back to see our child’s therapist.

These waiting rooms are difficult spaces. They are spaces where you are anxiously hopeful. Anxious about whether all of the many medical and therapy interventions your child endures will help them move or communicate or cope with their many sensory issues.

Anxious because you worry about how this therapy session will go—will your child make progress or regress?

Hopeful because what if today, your child says “mom” or crawls or crosses midline successfully.

This might seem like hyperbole to a neurotypical child’s parent, but the inner dialogue in a special needsvmom’s head in those ten minutes before therapy starts is intense.

Sometimes we moms talk and sometimes we sit in silence with our worry. I was a newer mom, and this was a newer space and my son’s diagnosis was raw. And he was so small and medically fragile. My husband and I had just moved and changed jobs, so the support system we had for many years was no more. My husband, the only other person who understood this hard journey we were on, was gone for long periods of time with his military service.

I remember feeling very alone in those early days. I kept my head down in those waiting rooms fearing any conversation or interaction. But Coble started talking to me. I remember her literally bending down to get my head to come up for that first conversation. She started asking about Will and talking about her daughter. Each week, we would sit and talk before our therapy sessions and each week, I opened up more.

One day I confided in her that I didn’t think therapy was working. “He’s almost two and he still can’t crawl,” I said.

I remember her confidently and compassionately looking at me, and responding, “Crysta didn’t learn to crawl until she was two. Don’t give up hope.”

Several weeks after Will turned two, he started crawling. She was the first person I told that news to. I remember hugging her and thanking her for giving me hope. And you know what? Coble has never stopped giving hope. Nor stopped being a visionary. Her work in making the City of Fishers a national model for disability awareness, accessibility, and economic inclusion is unmatched.

In 2014, Coble ran successfully for city councilor at-large in the city’s first municipal election when Fishers was transitioning from a town to a city.

Coble had no prior history in politics, but she had a heart for community service and felt she could help make a difference for her family and many others. She made history as the first Latina to be elected to the Fishers City Council and again in 2020 as the first woman president of the city council. She won re-election in 2023 and is once again serving as council president.

“I believe in learning to serve and serving to learn,” Coble said. “When the City of Fishers transitioned from a town to a growing city, I saw an opportunity to make a positive impact in the community and to help advance the quality of life for all residents, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I spoke to Mayor Scott Fadness and shared the challenges that my family faces, along with many other families who have a loved one with a disability. I wanted to bring more awareness about disability inclusion and opportunities for Crysta and other residents with disabilities.

Mayor Fadness explained that he didn’t know anyone with a disability, nor did he know much about disabilities, but he supported Coble. He encouraged her to gather all the stakeholders and said he was open to listening and learning more about disability inclusion.

Coble explained that every city is required to have an ADA Transition Plan. The City of Fishers had an ADA Task Force, but it was focused on rights-of-way and curb cuts to meet ADA requirements. Coble was interested in doing much more than that. She wanted to form an advisory committee to create more awareness and to help provide more opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In 2016, with Coble as the co-chair of the newly formed Fishers Advisory Committee on Disability (FACD) the city hosted its first successful March Disability Awareness Month. Every March since then, the committee has kicked off the month with a guest speaker who shares more about their experience living with a disability. The committee also plans various events that bring awareness of inclusion, accommodations, employment and celebration of the talents and contributions of the disability community. The work has grown so much that the FACD was codified by the Fishers City Council in 2021, and has assisted the cities of Carmel, Lawrence, Noblesville, and Westfield in forming their own disability advisory committees.

“We were initially meeting in a grass roots way and now this committee has become a model for how local stakeholders and municipalities can work together to make major strides in disability inclusion,” Coble said. “The Indiana General Assembly recognized the City of Fishers and the FACD through a resolution for its commitment to disability inclusion in March of 2023. It was a proud moment for me and for so many other people who have been actively involved with disability advocacy.”

The biggest impact of FACD’s work, according to Coble, is the annual My Point of View Day, which is held during March Disability Awareness Month. The city invites various stakeholders from the community, such as individuals with disabilities, direct support providers, caregivers, educators, municipal department heads, and elected officials from every level of government, to participate in roundtable discussions related to employment and social opportunities, housing, mental health, accessibility, transportation, and recreation. This is an opportunity for the disability community to share what life is like from their point of view. These discussions help to form yearly initiatives to help advance the quality of life for residents with disabilities in Fishers.

Other highlights of what Coble and FACD have accomplished include:

• The City of Fishers received the 2017 Champions of Inclusion Award from the Indiana Governor’s Council on Disabilities.

• Fishers instituted the Special Needs Data System, a voluntary registry for residents with special needs which assists firefighters and police officers in emergency situations.

• The new Fishers Community & Recreation Center at Johnson Farms, which is being built at the corner of Hoosier Road and 116th Street, will be the new home of Outside the Box. This makes it the first community center of its kind to house a day program. It will have accessibility features such as adult companion care rooms with adult changing tables, a zero-depth entry pool, water wheelchair, and accessible fitness equipment.

• Fishers was the first city in Indiana to provide affordable and accessible apartments with supportive services when Southpointe Village was created. Southpointe Village received the Lt. Governor’s Excellence in Affordable Housing/ Special Needs Development Award in October 2022.

• Through FACD and Allies for Disability Employment, a networking group was created which includes direct support providers and companies in Fishers. The group meets every other month to find ways to provide more opportunities for employment for individuals with disabilities. This group helps employers understand how they can hire qualified individuals in the disabled population. They hold a Reverse Job Fair where individuals with disabilities interview the company or organization. This allows employers to really learn who that individual is, what they are interested in, and what they can do for their organization or company. Employers are trained in how to interview candidates with a wide range of disabilities.

• Fishers Parks received KultureCity’s Sensory Inclusion Certification after staff received training on sensory sensitivities and how to handle challenges. The Nickel Plate District Amphitheatre, Fishers AgriPark, Fishers Makers Playground, and public special events are sensory inclusive and welcoming to all guests. Sensory bags are available to check out that include noise canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards, and weighted lap pads. Assisted listening devices are also available for individuals who are hard of hearing or use a hearing aid. A sensory quiet zone and accessible seating areas and ADA accessible picnic tables are located at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater.

• The new Geist Waterfront Park has an ADA accessible beach mat, accessible restrooms and an adult changing table. The picnic tables are designed with space for a wheelchair so the user can sit alongside others. The launch area is accessible for canoeing.

• Fishers is now providing a language interpretation service that provides real time translation service in over 350 languages, including ASL. This is significant because it helps anyone who doesn’t speak English and individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing access city services. This initiative provides video remote and over-the-phone interpreting services, as well as document translation.

Future Initiatives that Coble and the FACD are working toward include:

• More housing options. Southpointe Village has been so successful that the waiting list is very long, which illustrates how important the need is for affordable and accessible housing.

• More day programming options. Many young adults who age out of the school system can’t be left home alone but have parents who must continue to work full-time. There are not enough safe places for them to find enrichment or to engage in the community.

• Improved public transportation options for people with disabilities.

• Increased employment and meaningful work for individuals with disabilities.

It’s been an honor and privilege being Cecilia Coble’s friend, watching our children grow and turn into young adults, sitting with her on the March Disability Awareness Month Committee, and listening and learning from her. She’s truly a passionate public servant, special needs mom and disability champion who is helping to put Fishers on the map as one of the best places to live in the country.

IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE CLICK BELOW.

https://www.fishers.in.us/561/Cecilia-Coble https://www.fishers.in.us/1447/ Fishers-Advisory-Committee-on-Disability https://www.fishers.in.us/999/ March-Disability-Awareness