Commission On Disability Raises Awareness Of Andover’s Accessibility

Press release from Andover Commission on Disability

ANDOVER, MA — The Andover Commission on Disability (ACOD) announces two new leaders – Julee Armitage and Stephen Surrette. With varied backgrounds and a collaborative leadership style, each has a strong focus on serving the Andover community through advocacy, support and awareness for people with disabilities.

Both grew up in the area and attended local schools. Armitage went to St. Augustine School and North Andover High School, earned a degree in health studies from Georgetown University and worked at Mass General Hospital as a clinical research coordinator in neurooncology. Next, she studied at Yale to become a physician’s assistant and worked in that capacity at Yale and then in Boston.

She has three children, ages 9, 7 and 5, the youngest with special needs. At the time of her daughter’s diagnosis with a rare disease, Armitage didn’t know about ACOD and its resources to help families like hers. She founded the Rare Road Foundation for families and children affected by disabilities. Through three fundraisers, her foundation pledged $25,000 to make a local playground accessible, money that was enhanced by a Mass Office of Disability (MOD) grant.

Surette grew up in Andover and attended Andover public schools. He received an associate degree from Middlesex Community College and began working for the Town of Andover in 1993 as a custodian at West Elementary School. He subsequently worked in Town Hall and the Parks Department, before becoming the Town’s Highway Superintendent.

As co-leaders of ACOD, both Armitage and Surette stress their collaborative style of leadership. “It’s a team effort,” says Armitage.

Surette hopes to get more people involved. “I’d like to get people involved in the specifics of why they joined the commission,” he says. “People can bring different things to the table. There are a lot of talented people in this group. I’m very excited and can’t wait to get started.”

For more than 25 years, Justin Coppola led the way to enabling Andover’s residents with disabilities to enjoy access to all town public spaces, municipal buildings and recreational areas. As a member and then chair of the Andover Commission on Disability (ACOD), his recent accomplishments include helping the Town to win $4 million in grants for projects aimed at helping people with disabilities.

At a retirement party for Coppola in June, his legacy for this advocacy group was summed up by Town Manager Andrew Flanagan. “Appointed to the Commission in 1999, Coppola began his service at a time when awareness of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its local implications were still evolving. Over the years, he helped to transform that awareness into action in Andover. Under his leadership, the Commission advanced numerous initiatives aimed at improving access across municipal buildings, recreational areas and public spaces.”

Coppola, who holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. degree from Suffolk University, was an engineering manager at Digital Equipment Corp.

“My son was born in 1980 with spina bifida and required multiple surgeries from birth. My wife and I joined the Spina Bifida Association and learned what advocacy was and how complicated it is,” says Coppola..

ACOD was created and approved at Town Meeting in 1995. “When I joined, in 1999, there was little awareness of ADA and its requirements,” he says. “The focus in those days was to develop an organization to implement ADA. With my engineering management background, I understood the need was to become ADA experts to increase awareness and advocacy.”

Coppola served as ACOD chair from 2002-2010 and again in recent years. Accomplishments under his leadership include:

• Andover is now aware of ADA and has been commended by the State (MOD) as a model for ADA compliance and one of the top Commissions on Disabilities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Andover has a comprehensive process in place and is actively working on completing the ADA Self Evaluation and Transition Plan.
• All new municipal and school buildings, playgrounds, parks and other recreation areas go through an extensive ADA compliance process.
• Master Plans (Comprehensive Plan, Shawsheen River Master Plan, Sidewalk and Curb Cut Master Plan, and others) have major ADA requirement components included.

For more information about the Andover Commission on Disability, visit the website at https://acod.mhl.org.