Jackson Co.’s Faith Henshaw Appointed To State Developmental Disabilities Council

Dodson Branch Schools’ Faith Henshaw appointed to the state’s Developmental Disability Council.

Henshaw said the council works to connect those with developmental disabilities and their families to needed services. Henshaw said it is an honor to be appointed.

“I hope to get better services and programs and just knowledge to people that are living in rural areas like I do,” Henshaw said. “I have a focus, along with the council, of building bridges between experiences of real people with a disability and the policies and services that affect their lives.”

Henshaw said she has a brother with Down Syndrome and has been working with the council for years. She is also a graduate of the council’s Partners and Policymaking program, which works to make the individual with a disability or their family members a better advocate for the family.

Henshaw said she will attend her first meeting in Nashville next month, and will travel there quarterly. She said she plans on taking everything she learns and bringing it back to the Upper Cumberland area to hopefully expand access and knowledge of services available for those with developmental disabilities and their families.

“The state sometimes doesn’t see those smaller subsections where your only business in town might be a few local places and a Dollar General,” Henshaw said. “And when you have a lower population like that then lower services happen, they go together. So I’m hoping to impact that area and get options for our Upper Cumberland area along with the smaller cities.”