2017 Inclusive Health Forum

May 11, 2017

AUCD joined the Special Olympics International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), and several other health, health care, and public health partners, at the 2017 Inclusive Health Forum in Washington D.C. The goal of the May 9 event was to create inclusive access to quality health promotion and care for people with intellectual disabilities. The vision is that inclusion of all people with disabilities becomes the norm for health promotion.

People with intellectual disabilities need access to health programs and services, including inclusive health programming and policies, just like anyone else. There's a saying in the disability community - Nothing about us, without us. With this effort, partners will work together with people with intellectual disabilities.

Because of the numerous disparities that exist within the population of people with intellectual disabilities, the event focused on the leading health disparity within the population - obesity. Attendees talked about how non-traditional and cross-sector partnerships within communities can begin to make progress towards eliminating this health disparity and creating a model for addressing other disparities.

More information on the event can be found here:
http://resources.specialolympics.org/Taxonomy/Health/Resources_for_the_Inclusive_Health.aspx