The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and the Making Lifelong Connections Planning Committee would like to invite trainees to participate in a unique opportunity to build leadership skills, meet other current and former MCHB trainees and enhance their career development.

Before you wrap up your training and/or coursework, please come join us for the webinar led by AUCD's Emerging Leaders Interns, Shayla and Nell. They will provide prompts for you to reflect on the importance of your LEND, UCEDD, DBP or IDDRC traineeship; share practical tips for how to stay connected with the AUCD network no matter what your next steps are; and, most importantly, how you can use what you've learned over the past year to advance your professional goals.

The 143rd AAIDD Annual Meeting will provide a forum for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, students and advocates to learn about innovations in our field that are being translated and implemented on a grander scale. Through knowledge translation we can change practices and policies through effectively communicating our research and creating change at all levels. In a political climate that is complex and dynamic, it is important to remain relevant through the thoughtful translation of our knowledge.

Attendees will glean practical and actionable tools to not only understand the positive impacts of neurodiversity initiatives on one's own workplace or learning environment, but also how to build a team that includes individuals with neurodiverse traits, and the benefits of doing so. Attendees will develop a better understanding of neurodiverse traits and how to accommodate and leverage these skills as part of a more inclusive and diverse workplace.

Join the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC) for the release of the 2020 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium. Participants are invited to join the event either in-person or online. The event will be archived for later viewing.

This webinar will offer interested potential applicants an opportunity to interact with AUCD Leadership Academy faculty and alumni. The webinar will feature a brief overview of the 2020 Academy curriculum and timeline. This will be followed by reflections from alumni about the benefits they gained from participation in the week-long academy and the follow-up activities.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Center on Disability Studies, in the College of Education, is accepting presentation proposals to be featured at the 35th Annual Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability & Diversity at the Hawaii Convention Center, March 2-3, 2020. Submissions are being accepted from June 1, 2019-December 1, 2019 at www.pacrim.hawaii.edu.

The goals of this presentation are to share the strategies the UCEDD uses to sustain the Interdisciplinary Training Program as an online model, and, encourage discussion among other training directors, coordinators, and staff about innovative strategies to recruit, engage, retain, and effectively train a diverse pool of trainees.

A National Maternal and Child Health Training This is an interactive career development and networking opportunity within the Maternal and Child Health Community and is open to all current and former trainees from MCHB funded training programs. Applications will be accepted through 11pm EST January 15th, 2020.

Join the AUCD Sexual Health SIG for an open discussion to talk about ways to maintain relationships while social distancing. This conversation will begin with a discussion of potential ideas and strategies to help individuals connect during this time. Attendees are encouraged to share and discuss challenges faced along with successful tips and strategies used in their communities.

Join us for a celebration of your achievements and a lesson on launching your life after training! AUCD's Emerging Leaders Interns, Meghan and Jazmin will demonstrate how to market your LEND, UCEDD, DBP or IDDR training for professional growth, stress the importance of staying connected with the EL Community, and share ways to get involved with the AUCD network-your professional home!

According to recent reports from the CDC, suicide rates among our nation's youth have increased 56% since 2007. Further reports shows that youth with disabilities are 4 times more likely to have suicidal ideation than their nondisabled peers. In an effort to address this at-risk but underserved population, we have developed curriculum that will give young people the tools to navigate the ableism and stigma they experience as a person with a disability. We plan to discuss this curriculum along with our current work through the Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities, focused on the medical discrimination that people with disabilities often face when seeking mental healthcare in times of crisis.

Calling all AUCD Training Directors and Trainees! Are you interested in learning about disability inclusion in local emergency and pandemic planning? Join us for a Prepared4ALL town hall meeting on January 29th, 2021 from 3-4pm ET. You'll learn more about Prepared4ALL, an innovative approach to coalition-building among local disability organizations and emergency planning agencies.

Immunizations are crucial to protect all people from vaccine-preventable illnesses. Some studies suggest that autistic individuals have lower rates of immunizations, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Multiple organizations have called for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination distribution. Vaccine hesitancy and needle phobia are two likely contributors towards lower vaccination rates. One of the initial intervention projects from the AIR-P focuses on reducing needle anxiety and improving immunization rates among autistic individuals. This intervention was developed as a pilot to address needle anxiety in conjunction with Pfizer and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for use in an Improving Pediatric Immunization Care collaborative but has not been widely implemented. The AIR-P network provides an opportunity to implement this needle anxiety intervention in multiple sites. Measures of success for this intervention would include vaccination rates among autistic individuals and satisfaction with the vaccine administration process.

Motor dysfunction are prevalent and pervasive in autistic individuals. However, due to the heterogeneity of motor dysfunction and the categorization in DSM-5 as an associated deficit, this condition often goes undetected and undertreated. Improving our understanding of motor dysfunction in autism is important so that we can adequately screen for these difficulties and ultimately provide the best interventions.