The 11th Annual Disability Day Rally on the Capitol steps started off quiet but ended with cheers and even defiance. Disabled individuals and their families came to the Gold Dome to advocate for funding and insist that they be able to live on their own and not in institutions.

Signs at the rally told the story:
"We are 'Just' People"
"Unlock The Waiting List"
"We Have a Right Choice"
"Remembering Elaine Wilson"
"Hear Our Voice: Respect Our Choice!"
"My Body, My Choice Where I Want To Live"

10:00 I meet a large group from the "Just" People Inc. community in Roswell at the Freight Depot, where groups are gathering before the short walk to the Capitol steps. Jeremy Hopkins and Mark Viduna are here for the second time. Viduna has cerebral palsy and says he is here to meet a diverse group of people and to advocate for his rights.

10:03 Shannon Reeves from "Just" People is a manager at the community because when he worked delivering pharmaceuticals he found the place irresistible because of the cheery dispositions of the disabled residents. He quit his job and went to work for "Just" People, what he describes as a privately run organization, not an institution.

10:15 Phillip Miller from Carollton who has Mobius Syndrome joins me in the walk to the Capitol and lets me know I have a little competition as he is going to Twitter and Facebook about his Disability Day experience. He uses the Internet applications to spread the word about the disability, and so his girlfriend can keep up with him. Miller says he is now looking for a part-time job at a grocery store. But times are even tougher for disabled individuals because patrons and employers sometimes discriminate against people with disabilities.

10:35 The group, loaded with signs and blue balloons, crosses the street with the help of the police officer. The group lifts up their signs and waves to the cars.

10:45 As we wait for the speakers to start, I meet Sheri Sperin from Paulding who is attending her second Disability Day rally and is a member of the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities, involved in advocacy training. She is here advocating for her daughter Phylicia who has developmental disabilities and mild cerebral palsy. "Advocating for her and others - it's my passion," she says. "Not enough people are standing up for them. They think they're different and incompetent and people feel intimidated."

10:50 Waring Jackson of Atlanta kindly offers me some Mardi Gras beads, and advocacy buttons and headband. He says he suffered a brain injury 10 years ago and is here with a group made up of 50 to 75 disabled individuals from Savannah to Thomassville.

10:51 The press conference begins and David Blanchard, director of public policy and education division of the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities, announces the results of a poll that says Georgians want to be part of the solution for disabled individuals.

10:55 I talk a little more to Blanchard and he says, "Families who are vulnerable and are on the edge of the cliff will fall off the precipice if we don't do something." The FY 2009 and 2010 state budgets look bleak for disabled individuals, he says.

11:04 A father of a disabled son from Dunwoody said he would be interested to find out how many legislators are attending the rally. He said the governor never shows up. The father preferred not to use his name.

11:11 Todd Copper and Ann Spear live in Dunwoody on their own and are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Olmstead Act, which allowed disabled individuals to live in communities and not in institutions. Copper's mother Becky Copper said because of the act, her son has been able to live in Dunwoody for more than a decade in his own apartment and attend his childhood church. "We have to keep them in their community. Todd and Ann even belong to a scout group for the handicapped. We want to thank our legislators for what they have done for their independence," said Ms. Copper.

11:15 With the rally going on in the background, I meet Lobbyist Greg Kirk who is good friends with the Coppers and Spears. He tells me he was a Counselor and Behavior Specialist in Americus for 10 years but got tired of "Hitting my head against the wall. So I am now advocating full time." Kirk broadcasts an Internet talk show called "Disabilities Issues and Answers" at www.contacttalkradio.com every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

11:25 I find out that about six representatives and senators are present.

11:30 A chant is started from the podium, "Get us out, keep us out, don't put us in," regarding institutionalization of disabled individuals.

11:31 Keynote speaker Brad Cohen, a Cobb County educator and noted author who has Tourettes Syndrome, professes his passion for teaching and tells the crowd about the way he was discriminated against by his own teachers as a child. Some people in wheelchairs can't see Cohen, they just listen and nod along.

11:44 Cohen tells a cheering crowd that he is a role model because he tells his students that they can dream and be anything they want to be.

11:46 Cohen gets the crowd to hold up one finger, because it only takes one person. "Other people think I can't do things because I have a disability, but I don't think that," said Cohen.

11:50 I find out 1,700 people are at the rally. The crowd yells "Unlock the Waiting List!" to legislators.

11:58 Pat Procter presents the Samuel B. Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award to Bernard Baker.

12:02 Brad Cohen tells me that this is his first time attending disability day and he wants legislators to hear his voice. Cohen says he has met a group of kids from Riverdale with Attention Deficit Disorder and they told him that his story gave them hope.