Age: 31
Job: Communications Director for the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities
High school: Bryan (Ohio), Class of 1996
College: Bowling Green State University, Class of 2000
Degree: Journalism
Family: Lives with her husband, Mike, and 5-year-old twin daughters Lydia and Arlene in Pleasant Run.
HAMILTON — It’s just a few weeks into January and Wendy Planicka, the communications director for the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities, already has planned out her entire 2010.
And 2011. And 2012.
“She has developed a whole marketing plan on multiple levels through multiple years, which is something we have never done before,” says Chris Hurr, the BCDD superintendent. “To have somebody come in and know about Web site design and even approach us about Facebook or Twitter and that kind of stuff, Wendy is going to take us to the next level of communication and PR.”
Even though she has mapped a path through 2012, the 31-year-old Planicka is locked in on 2010, which likely will be her most challenging year since coming to the BCDD in 2007.
That’s because state legislation officially removed “mental retardation” from the names of all county boards in October, creating the possibility of an identity crisis for an organization that relies heavily on taxpayer supported levies.
“Public education and public awareness is going to be a big part of our job this year,” Planicka said. “That’s why I came up with the slogan — ‘Erase the R word,’ which I hope is really going to take off.”
Helping the public identify and adjust to the name change is only part of her campaign. The bigger mission for Planicka is to remove the ‘R’ word from conversation altogether.
“The term ‘retard’ is so horrible,” she said. “People don’t really understand how hurtful it is to someone who has mental retardation.”
But soon, thanks to Planicka’s plan, they will.
Erasing the “R” word
Planicka has created the “Erase the R word” campaign, whose mission is twofold.
First, it helps the public understand the organization’s name change, which took place in October when state legislation removed “mental retardation” from all county boards. And second, it helps educate people about just how hurtful the word is to people affected by the disability.
Newspaper ads begin this week, and television, radio and cinema spots also are scheduled.
“Every year we do an awareness video, and this year it’s going to be a 30-second spot about ‘Erase the R word’ that shows people how words are powerful,” Planicka said. The video is available for viewing at www.butlerdd.org.
Joined by her colleagues at the Hamilton, Clermont and Warren county boards of developmental disabilities, Planicka is distributing thousands of “Erase the R word” rubber bracelets to area schools. She said she’s encouraged by the fact that she’s starting to see people wearing them in public.
The word is also spreading through the personality profiles Planicka writes for both the BCDD’s internal and external newsletters.
‘Lives to work’
“That’s my favorite part of the job,” she said. “I get to be the voice for these people who might not otherwise have a voice, and I get to share their stories.”
It’s that genuine caring and compassion that make Planicka so effective in her job, says BCDD Superintendent Chris Hurr.
“We’re really luck to have her,” Hurr said. “It’s a big job, and I’m trying to get everybody to understand that PR is everybody’s job, but somebody has to do all of this planning and she’s all over the place. She’s really energetic, and she likes what she does.”
Adds Planicka’s husband Mike, “She lives to work. She doesn’t work to live. She’s doing something she loves in a career she knows she wants to be in for many years, so she’s pretty lucky.”
In addition to her job with the BCDD and her work as a wife and mother of 5-year-old twin daughters Lydia and Arlene, Planicka still has time for her side business in which she creates and sells pendant necklaces and fabric dolls on the craft Web site etsy.com.
“After everyone goes to bed, between the hours of 10 (p.m.) and 1 (a.m.) is when I get the most of that stuff done,” she says.
Planicka said she had her daughters in mind when she began making the dolls. And she also keeps them in mind while she’s at her regular job at the BCDD, working to remove a word she hopes her daughters will never say or hear.
“I know it’s going to take a long time to get people to stop saying it,” Planicka said. “But hopefully in 5 to 10 years from now, I can say we helped get people past saying the ‘R’ word.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.
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