AUCD Central Office News

AUCD 2012: Submit a Proposal Today

The 2012 AUCD Conference is a unique forum to share innovations and promising practices across a broad array of topics that ultimately impact the quality life for people with disabilities and their families in their communities. Join AUCD on December 2-5, 2012 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, to learn and share today's promising practices and innovations that shape the lives of people with disabilities and their families through research, policy, education, and service. Read more and submit your proposal by June 11, 2012.

Exploring New Paradigms for the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act

This publication by the National Council on Disability (NCD) is a supplement to the 2011 NCD publication Rising Expectations: The Developmental Disabilities Act Revisited. It expands on the challenges identified in Rising Expectations and offers specific recommendations for aligning systems and statutes both within and beyond the scope of the DD Act. Read more...

2012 Disability Policy Seminar: Photos

On April 22-25, over 650 advocates gathered in Washington, DC to learn about and advocate for disability issues. View photos from the event, and submit your photos and experiences to [email protected].

Network News - Awards

Missouri Traumatic Brain Injury Implementation Partnership Project Wins National Award in 2012 (MO UCEDD)

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a tremendously challenging disability, both for the people who experience it and their families. It is arguably the most difficult of any disability to navigate services and predict outcomes. Finding information about where to go, what to do, and how to plan for the best chances of recovery requires great amounts of energy. But now, Missouri is leading the way in making progress towards helping these individuals and families, thanks to an award-winning new project aimed at strengthening the systems that exist to help survivors of TBI. Read more...

Carol Gill, PhD (IL UCEDD/LEND) Receives the 2012 Senior Scholar Award

Carol Gill, PhD, is the winner of the 2012 senior scholar award, selected by a committee of peers and nominated by members of the Society for Disability Studies. Here are some excerpts from Prof. Gill's nomination and letters of support that capture her essence as Disability Studies senior scholar: "Dr. Gill is an Associate Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. She got involved in disability activism, independent living and disability studies in Los Angeles, where she met Irving Zola, Diane Coleman and many other emerging leaders and activists in the disability movement." Read more...

UC Davis (CA UCEDD) Autism Training Program Receives National UPCEA Award

The UC Davis Professional Concentration in Autism Spectrum Disorders Program, a partnership of the MIND Institute, the Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and the University Extension Program, received the 2011 Distance Learning "Program of Excellence" award from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Read more...

Network News - Activities & Resources

Toronto Declaration on Bridging Knowledge and Practice in Aging and Disability

The Toronto Declaration on Bridging Knowledge, Policy and Practice in Aging and Disability was released on March 30, 2012, by Dr. Luis Salvador-Carulla at an event at the Administration on Aging. The Declaration was authored by an international work group on aging with disability, which included Tamar Heller, PhD, of the Institute on Disability and Human Development (IL UCEDD), and Barbara LeRoy, PhD, Developmental Disabilities Institute (MI UCEDD). The goal of the Declaration is to raise awareness of bridging issues between aging and disability and promote the recommendations it contains. Read more...

South Dakota Center for Disabilities Uses Innovative Trainings in Technology for Autism Spectrum Disorders

South Dakota's Center for Disabilities Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Program is initiating innovative new training programs across the state using iPads and other computer-based interventions for students with ASD. As technology continues to revolutionize the way service providers are able to meet the needs of people who have social, communicative, and other challenges associated with ASD, many students have shown promising response to interventions using devices such as Apple iPods and iPads. Read more ...

Bridging the Aging and Developmental Disabilities Service Networks: Challenges and Best Practices

Funded by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities through the Association of University Centers on Disabilites and produced by the Institute on Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, this newly released report identifies policy and service delivery issues pertaining to older adults with developmental disabilities and their families and recommends opportunities to enhance collaboration among the aging, disability, and long-term care networks. Key policy initiatives addressed include the Aging and Disability Resource Centers, the Lifespan Respite Act, the National Alzheimer's Project Act, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Download the report.

The Kansas University (KS UCEDD) Diet Project for People with Physical Disabilities

More than 120 people with physical disabilities in Wichita, Kansas, are receiving personalized weight loss support through a NIDRR FIR project conducted by Muriel Saunders, PhD, and Amanda Reichard, PhD, at the University of Kansas Research and Training Center on Independent Living. This video about the project is close-captioned in English and Spanish. Individuals with physical disabilities (PD) have obesity rates that far exceed those in the general population. Overweight and obesity are independent risk factors for chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in both the general population and those with PD. Read more...

Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology Promotes System Change in Iowa (IA UCEDD)

How many exceptions to policy does it take to change a system? Just a couple, if you're counting the number of times Iowans with disabilities, and their family members and advocates, have pursued formal cases for exceptions to Medicaid policy to cover the cost of enclosed beds to protect their health and safety. But according to Professor John Allen of the University of Iowa College of Law, it takes a lot more when you're "fighting from the margins" to change an established practice of exclusions and limitations of services. Read more...

CHLA UCEDD Participates in NIH Grant to Explore Sensory-Adapted Dental Environments

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research awarded Sharon Cermak, EdD, a two-year grant totaling over a half million dollars. Dr. Cermak has long been active in Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disabilities (LEND). She was a LEND trainee at the E.K. Shriver Center of the University of Massachusetts (1975-1976) and Project Director of an Occupational Therapy Training grant from MCH.  Read more...

MN ICI Launches New College Prep Service for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities often need extra support and advocacy to become college-ready. A new service has been launched at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) to provide that support and advocacy for high school and college-age students with disabilities and their families in the Twin Cities area. It is called College Prep/ICI. College Prep/ICI works collaboratively with individual students, families, and professionals to help set the stage for a successful transition from high school to the college of their choice. Read more...

Nisonger Center (OH UCEDD/LEND) Faculty Present Educational Programs on Disabilities

Free one-hour classes taught by professors at the Nisonger Center and Ohio State for parents of young children with special needs were offered at the Early Childhood Education and Family Center in Columbus, Ohio. Paula Rabidoux, PhD, CCC-SLP, director of training and outreach at the Nisonger Center and co-director of the LEND program, presented "Early Language and Literacy: Activities for Parents" on Feb. 7, 2012.  Read more...

Submissions

News items may be submitted for consideration via the
AUCDigest Submission page.

Update from AUCD International Affiliate, Institute on Community Integration (INICO) at the University of Salamanca, Spain

• INICO recently celebrated the "Eighth Scientific Conference on Disability Research," which is an international conference on research and disability that INICO organizes every three years.
• INICO published a book called "Application of the paradigm of quality of life intervention with people with disabilities from a holistic perspective," which presents the results of their research project on "Implementation of the quality of life paradigm for intervention with people with disabilities from a holistic perspective." Read more about these and other accomplishments of INICO's...

Vermont's UCEDD Announces Opening Doors Conference
May 9, 2012
Burlington, VT

The Center on Disability and Community Inclusion (Vermont's UCEDD) and Think College Vermont announce their upcoming conference on expanding post-secondary opportunities for people with disabilities. The Opening Doors to College and Careers Conference 2012 will take place at the University of Vermont on May 9th. Read more...

2012 Summer Institute on Theology and Disability
July 16 - 20, 2012
Chicago, IL

The Summer Institute is coordinated by The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities (NJ UCEDD) with major sponsorship funding this year from The Bethesda Institute. Other sponsors include Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, and The Arc of Illinois with endorsements from the Association of Theological Schools, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and the new Collaborative on Religion, Disability, and Inclusive Spiritual Supports. Read more...

MIND Summer Institute on Neurodevelopmental Disorders
August 3, 2012
Sacramento, CA

The UC Davis MIND Summer Institute is an annual conference intended to help participants keep pace with the latest advances in research on autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders and the implications for best practices in prevention, assessment and treatment. Read more...

Reinventing Quality 2012
August 5 - 7, 2012
Baltimore, MD

In the fall of 1999, The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) was awarded a three-year grant by the federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities to gather and disseminate "best practice" information on individualized, person-centered supports and related quality management activities. Read more...