AUCDigest

November 2, 2007 • Volume 7, Number 10

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Cincinnati Children’s Division of Developmental (CCDD) and Behavioral Pediatrics (UCEDD/LEND) Celebrating Golden Anniversary. The Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The CCDD board, consisting of consumer families and agencies, are celebrating this event with the community and staff on November 1 as part of the celebration. Recognition of those 50 years of service, education, and research will be lead by the new Division Director, Dr. David Schonfeld, and Dr. Patricia Manning, former LEND trainee and current Director of the Autism Program. For further information, please contact UCEDD Director Dr. Sonya Oppenheimer.

Director of Institute on Disability (NH UCEDD) Receives UNH Alumni Association's Highest Honor. The University of New Hampshire Alumni Association presented its most prestigious award—the Pettee Medal—for extraordinary achievement and distinguished service to the state, the nation, and the world, to Dr. Jan Nisbet, UCEDD Director on November 1, 2007. Under Dr. Nisbet’s guidance, the institute has set as its vision a world where all people, including those living with disabilities, are fully engaged members of their communities and where support is available to help individuals and families achieve independence, productivity and a satisfying quality of life.

Down Syndrome Awareness Month: WCBSTV (New York) Features Westchester Institute for Human Development (NY UCEDD/LEND) Faculty. Watch a clip on "Down Syndrome Awareness Month," including an interview with Mitchell Levitz on a New York Metropolitan area CBS television station. Mr. Levitz is a Disability Specialist at the NY UCEDD/LEND program. He serves on the COCA steering committee of AUCD.

North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (UCEDD) Develops Employment Program. The UCEDD was awarded a grant to develop an on-campus employment program for people with disabilities. Five individuals were placed within various departments on the Minot State University campus. The successful outcomes of the employment experiences have increased employer’s awareness of the benefits and capabilities of employment for people with disabilities and have provided a better qualify of life for five individuals with respect to a sense of self worth and self sufficiency. For more information, contact Rich Berg at 800-233-1737.

Institute on Disability and Human Development (IL UCEDD) Receives NIDDR Fitness and Technology Grant. Dr. James Rimmer was awarded a $4.75 million grant from NIDRR. The project, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Recreational Technologies and Exercise Physiology Benefiting Persons with Disabilities (RecTech), is dedicated to using technology to promote healthier, active lifestyles for people with disabilities.

ADD Awards Rural Institute (MT UCEDD) to Develop the Montana Transition Training, Information and Resource Center (MT–TIRC). The UCEDD Transition Projects recently received a three-year grant from the US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities to develop a statewide Transition information center for youth with developmental disabilities. For more information, please contact Ellen Condon, Transition Projects Director.

Center on Disability Studies (HI UCEDD) is Celebrating its 20th Anniversary and Hosting the Pacific Rim Conference. The UCEDD is pleased to host the Pacific Rim Conference, International Forum 2008. Registration is now open and the deadline for Call for Papers and Proposals is November 26th. Please contact UCEDD Director Robert Stodden or Charmaine Crockett. Visit the Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities 2008 website for complete information.

Honors Bestowed Upon the Center for Persons with Disabilities (UT UCEDD/LEND)

Autism Program Recognized as Program of the Year. The Autism Support Services: Education, Research, and Training (ASSERT) program at the UCEDD was awarded the Autism Council of Utah's education Autism Program of the Year award at the council's biannual meeting at the state capitol on October 19. Directed by associate professor Thomas Higbee, the ASSERT program provides educational and behavioral early intervention to 3 to 5-year-old children affected by autism.
Utah State University to Participate as Secondary Site (Cache County, UT) in National Children's Study. Dr. Rich Roberts will serve as the Principal Investigator and will hire staff specifically for the study. The National Children’s Study will examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of more than 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. The goal of the study is to improve the health and well-being of children.

News and Activities from the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (ME UCEDD)

15^th Anniversary Celebration. Celebrating 15 years of community engagement through education, research and service (1992-2007) was the theme of the Maine UCEDD’s recent anniversary gathering. The Center’s faculty, staff and students were accompanied by the Community Advisory Committee, the Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Academic Committee, and University of Maine administrators for a luncheon on October 25th. As part of the celebration, three 2007 Daring to Dream Award honorees were recognized for vision and leadership that contributes to making the dream of inclusive communities a reality for individuals with disabilities and their families—Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe, J.D., for Public Policy Change; Susan Abel, Work Opportunities Unlimited-Maine, for Social Change; and Kristine Mulhorn, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Health Administration, University of Michigan-Flint, for vision and leadership in Scholarship that informs Disability Studies policy and practice.
APHA DisAbility Student Member Award. Research Associate Robert (BJ) Kitchin has been named the recipient of the 2007 American Public Health Association's DisAbility Forum Student Member Award. This competitive award is presented each year to one student who has conducted promising work to advance the health and quality of life of people with disabilities. Kitchin is currently pursuing an interdisciplinary Ph.D. that examines the intersection of accessibility, human rights and technology within the framework of disability studies. He will receive the award during the American Public Health Association’s 135th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on November 5th.
For further information, please contact Sandra Horne, Acting Coordinator of Dissemination.

News and Activities from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD)

Research Family Partners Recruitment Tool. The UCEDD now provides the opportunity for individuals or families who have children with or without disabilities to register as a Research Family Partner. Research Family Partners are notified of any VKC study in which they could participate. The program supplements the StudyFinder searchable database, already operational on the UCEDD website. StudyFinder allows families to obtain descriptions of studies and contact information for the projects. The Research Family Partners database takes this process one step further—allowing active, two-way communication between VKC researchers and families. For information, contact Lynnette Henderson at (615) 936-0448.
UCEDD Artists Honored at “Jewel in Your Heart” Reception. A reception and recognition ceremony was held to honor artists with and without intellectual disabilities who took part in an art workshop developed by VKC UCEDD collaborator, Full Circle Artists. At the workshop, participants formed a drum circle, and with their instruments began an hour-long simulation of the sound of the heartbeat in order to ground the group in a common rhythm. One by one, the artists moved to a circle of tables and created individual pieces of artwork to represent the “jewels found inside their hearts.” The exhibit, “Jewel in Your Heart,” had a three month run in the VKC UCEDD exhibit area. For information on VKC UCEDD arts programming, contact Gretchen Herbert at (615) 322-8529 x13.

News and Activities from the Center for Disabilities Studies (DE UCEDD)

Regional Research Participant in the National Children's Study. The University of Delaware has been named a regional research participant in the National Children's Study–the largest long-term study of children's health ever conducted in the United States. Researchers from the UCEDD, the School of Nursing, and the Department of Individual and Family Studies, in partnership with Christiana Care Health System and the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, will monitor the health of 1,100 children in New Castle County. For more information, visit the website.
Delaware Selected for Intensive Technical Assistance to Address Workforce. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) selected five states to receive individualized intensive technical assistance (TA) from the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center. The goal of this initiative is to identify and encourage a unified vision to create and sustain a system to empower direct support professionals, providers and consumers with consistent, quality service provision to support a highly trained and qualified direct service workforce. This initiative will be coordinated by CDS in partnership with the Delaware Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance.
CDC Awards Five-year Cooperative Grant. The Delaware State Implementation Project on Preventing Secondary Conditions and Promoting Health of People with Disabilities started on July 1, 2007. This project is a five-year cooperative agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. The charge of the project is to develop a state program that focuses on the prevention of secondary health conditions and the promotion of health and wellness in Delawareans with disabilities.
UCEDD to Lead Effort to Boost Employment of Those with Disabilities. Persons with disabilities seek employment in real jobs and economic independence, and the UCEDD’s National Leadership Consortium on Development Disabilities has been selected by the Department of Labor to spearhead this effort. Directed by Steven Eidelman and Nancy Weiss, the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities has received a grant of $280,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. For further information, please contact Tracy Mann.

News and Activities from the Institute for Community Inclusion (MA UCEDD/LEND)

Awards

UCEDD Receives Community Health Initiative Grant. The UCEDD was awarded a $225,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Benton Foundation under the New Routes to Community Health initiative that launches Twa Zanmi (Three Friends). This grant will form a partnership between ICI, the Haitian American Public Health Initiative, and the Haitian Media Network. The Twa Zanmi Project will produce a TeleNovella following the lives of three Haitian immigrants who are overcoming depression and anxiety as a result of migration into the United States. Dr. Susan Foley of ICI is the principal investigator.
NIDDR Awards UCEDD to Develop a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Vocational Rehabilitation (RRTC/VR). The UCEDD and its partners, the Center for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy and InfoUse, are pleased to announce the receipt of a five year Cooperative Agreement from the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to develop a RRTC/VR. The RRTC/VR will conduct research addressing the employment service delivery structures for individuals with disabilities, investigate “best practices” in certain critical areas, and provide training and technical assistance directed at improving VR services and employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Longitudinal Research Grant on Employment Trends & Supports. The UCEDD was awarded a five-year, $1,500,000 grant from the Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The Access to Integrated Employment: National Data Collection on Day and Employment Services for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities project continues 20 years of longitudinal research on trends in employment and related day supports for persons with developmental disabilities.

Publications on Employment

Allison Cohen Hall, John Butterworth (both of ICI) and others recently wrote and published “Pushing the Employment Agenda: Case Study Research of High Performing States in Integrated Employment” in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. For that same publication, Butterworth, with Heike Boeltzig and others, also wrote “Achieving Community Membership through Community Rehabilitation Providers Services: Are We There Yet?”.
Alberto Migliore wrote “Integrated Employment or Sheltered Workshops: Preferences of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, Their Families, and Staff” for Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. Migliore also wrote “Inerimento Lavorativo o Laboratori Protetti? Cosa Ne Pensano Disabili, Famiglie e Operatori [Integrated Employment or Sheltered Workshops? What Adults with Disabilities, Families, and Staff Think About It] for Lavoro Sociale.
Jamie Ciulla Timmons, Heike Boeltzig, Allison Cohen Hall, Doris Hamner, and Sheila Fesko wrote “One-Stops and Employers: Building Jobs for People with Disabilities” for the Journal of Rehabilitation Administration. They also wrote “Broadening Opportunities for Job Seekers with Disabilities: Strategies to Effectively Provide Assistive Technology in the One-Stop Centers. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation.”

Conferences & Presentations

Universal Design & Employment. Elena Varney presented at ICI’s Mission Employment 3 Conference. She discussed universal design and translating that concept from a product and environmental concept to one for programs and services. The session reached members from Employment programs, school personnel, employment programs, and employers.
November 15: Diabetes and Work Conference. The UCEDD is hosting this statewide conference to bring together diabetes educators, disability and employment professionals and people with diabetes to discuss employment issues and managing diabetes. For further information, please contact Quinn Barbour.

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