Brilliant Firefly: Southridge student recognized for work with special needs individuals
Maleah Dearing was surprised when she walked into the Southridge Corporation Building and saw a lot of her family and friends filling the room.
Then, Denny Spinner introduced Maleah to Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, who explained she was there to present Maleah with the Brilliant Firefly. This only further confused the up-and-coming Southridge freshman who thought she was attending a special event for the school’s academic performance. Still, she quickly recovered and tossed a joke out about seeing everyone there.
Maleah, with the help of her sister, Alysia, mother, Tina, as well as students and teachers at Southridge Middle School, established a nonprofit, Differently Able, Inc., and created a new festival catering to individuals with special needs, The Sky is the Limit Special Needs Festival and Resource Fair.
Maleah took the project on based on her own relationship and experiences with her nephew, Isaiah Fisher. Isaiah was born with Down Syndrome in 2016.
You can read more about that and the creation of the special needs festival in the story here.
Created in 2019, the Indiana Lieutenant Governor’s Brilliant Firefly is awarded to young Hoosiers who have distinguished themselves by demonstrating outstanding community service, exemplary academic achievement, and exceptional leadership in their communities. It is a way to recognize young Hoosiers who are “lighting Indiana’s future”, according to the Lt. Governor.
With the work and creation of the event, a few people felt Maleah deserved to be recognized for all her hard work. Denny Spinner, the former mayor of Huntingburg and current director of the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, shared Maleah’s achievement with State Representative Steve Bartels, who nominated Maleah for the award.
Bartels explained that after he heard what Maleah had accomplished, he knew it fit the guidelines for the Brilliant Firefly. “Your family should be proud of you. You should be proud of yourself,” Bartels told Maleah during the presentation.
Lt. Gov. Crouch, who chairs the state’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Task Force, told Maleah that her project was important to the many Hoosiers living with disabilities of various kinds. “We have 100,000 Hoosiers who have autism, Down Syndrome, or cerebral palsy,” she said.
Through the task force, Indiana is making efforts to enable them to live, play, and work in safe, accessible, and affordable environments, Crouch explained.
“Our friends with disabilities are really just our friends with different abilities who have the same hopes and dreams and desires as each and every one of us,” Crouch said.
In presenting the award to Maleah, Lt. Gov. Crouch complimented Maleah on her efforts to “not just make a difference in the community but to elevate those Hoosiers who have a disability and allow them to enjoy the same quality of life that you and I take for granted is something that I think is unbelievably exemplary.”
Tina Dearing, Maleah’s mom, said she was incredibly proud of Maleah’s accomplishments. “It has been challenging as a single mom, but this makes everything worth it,” she said.
Maleah’s sister, Alysia, said she was amazed. “With all the hard work, she definitely deserves it,” she said. “With everything she’s done and everything she’s planning on doing in the future, I could not be more happy.”
You can learn more about Differently Able, Inc. here.
After the ceremony, Lt. Gov. Crouch stated it was very gratifying to present these awards. “Young people are the future,” she said, adding it was important to recognize them for their accomplishments.
About 25 young Hoosiers have received the Brilliant Butterfly since the award’s inception. The award was created in recognition of the eleven students from West Lafayette Community School Corporation that petitioned the state to make Say’s Firefly the state insect. That designation occurred in 2018.
