Launching Call for Host Application for Spring 2025 Professional Fellowship Exchange

Is your UCEDD or LEND eager to drive global change in disability inclusion? Host a Fellow from the prestigious Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Civic Engagement (PFP)!

LEND Equity Scholars Opportunity

Deadline: Monday, September 16, 2024

The Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center for Equity (ECIPC-Equity) is recruiting the second cohort of 10-15 LEND trainees to become the 2024-2025 ECI LEND Equity Scholars.

The PacWest LEND Consortium Celebrates the Careers of Three LEND Program Leaders

All three professionals have made indelible marks on their fields and regions through their dedication to service, research, and education in developmental disabilities and physical therapy.

AUCD 2024 Awards Nominations - Deadline Extended!

AUCD invites you to nominate someone who inspires you in the spirit of this year’s theme, Stronger Together: Creating a More Inclusive World. Please note that AUCD has made some changes to the awards nomination process this year. Learn more about the changes and requirements.

Submit an AUCD Awards Nomination by August 16.

Submit Nomination

Let’s Send a Message: DSPs Do More

Direct support professionals (DSPs) help make it possible for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to live full lives in the community. Let’s send a message that we value this work by telling regulators to make “direct support professional” the official title used by the government to recognize and categorize the profession of supporting individuals with IDD.

What you can do now: Before Aug. 12, submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget that explain why you support the creation of a distinct Standard Occupational Classification for DSPs. 

Best Practices in Telehealth Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Research team led by 2018 UMass Shriver LEND Fellow Dr. Melissa L. Desroches collaborates with Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association, American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, The Arc, and StationMD to identify best practices in telehealth care for adults with developmental disabilities.

MN LEND Fellows on TV News

This television news story from WCCO/CBS News Minnesota shows a Minnesota couple living with disabilities who built an accessible orphanage and clinic in Liberia. They are former fellows of ICI’s MN LEND program.

Dr. Sarah Smith Announced as New Director of NH-ME Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NH-ME LEND)

“NH-ME LEND is a federally-funded collaboration among the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies at the University of Maine, and the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. In her role, Dr. Smith will provide vision, leadership, and direction for the NH-ME LEND program, lead the interdisciplinary LEND faculty, establish liaisons with other UCEDD and LEND programs, and cultivate local, state, regional and federal partnerships," says Betsy Humphreys, current NH-ME LEND Director.

13th Annual Ohio MCH LEND Poster Symposium

LEND trainees, faculty, and guests recently gathered at The Ohio State University Medical Center to celebrate the work of LEND trainees from Cincinnati Children’s and The Ohio State University Nisonger Center. The LEND posters showcased a range of projects addressing several themes such as community resources, accessibility, inclusion, dental services, mental health, and sensory processing in children with prenatal opioid exposure.

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Researchers Awarded $2.48M in Special Education Training Grants

Two Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) researchers have received two training grants totaling $2.48 million in funding from the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. The new grants address the need to train culturally conscientious special education teachers of students with high intensity needs. One of the grants will support training for teachers of students with limited or no functional speech. The other grant will support training for teachers of students with visual impairments. Both grants seek to recruit candidates from historically underrepresented groups or with a unique interest in supporting students from culturally and linguistic diverse backgrounds.