AUCD 360 - February 2020

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Plan for the UCEDD National Network

The UCEDD network has the capacity to reduce disparities, improve outcomes, and promote a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive society for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families from historically underserved groups. This Action Plan identifies four areas of focus with objectives and action steps for network members to address: (1) workforce diversity, (2) cultural and linguistic competence, (3) state/local impact, and (4) crosscutting considerations that apply to all efforts. Read more... 

AUCD Policy Fellowship

TThe purpose of the Fellowship is to provide significant experiences in national level activities related to policy and legislative development, advocacy, program development, technical assistance, and AUCD administration. The Fellowship in Disability Policy is envisioned as a mutually beneficial arrangement between the Fellow, the Fellows community, and the AUCD central office. The Fellow will benefit from the experiences and contacts developed during the Fellowship period as well as participation in national level activities and subsequently informing their base community of activities and knowledge gained.
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Apply Today! 2020 AUCD Leadership Academy

Application Deadline: March 2nd

The AUCD Leadership Academy is a year-long program designed to enhance the skills of current and emerging leaders from the disability network to build coalitions to improve systems of supports and services. The Leadership Academy seeks participants from UCEDDs, LENDs, and their disability partners to come together to immerse themselves for a week of study, shared experiences, self-evaluation, and skill development. Learn more at the 2020 AUCD Leadership Academy Informational Webinar  this Thursday, February 13, 2020 from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET.  Read more... 

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UConn UCEDD Molly Cole Awarded the Prestigious The ARC Connecticut Peg Dignoti Advocacy Award

The UConn Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities' (UConn UCEDD) Associate Director of Public Policy, Molly Cole, was awarded the prestigious The ARC Connecticut Peg Dignoti Advocacy Award. This award is to recognize a member of the community who has shown an unwavering commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Read more...

Dr. Winges-Yanez Invited to Join Public Voices Fellowship
(TX UCEDD)

The OpEd Project invited Dr. Nick Winges-Yanez of the Texas Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) to join the prestigious 2020 Public Voices Fellowship. The OpEd Project's Public Voices Fellowship goal is to dramatically increase the public impact of the nation's top underrepresented thinkers, and to ensure their ideas help shape the important conversations of our age. During the one-year program, fellows will participate in seminars, receive one-on-one mentoring, and will engage in forums with media insiders.  Read more...

WITH Foundation, AADMD, and Ability Central awards more than $478,000 to foster Supported Decision-making for AAC Users

The WITH Foundation, the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and Ability Central are pleased to announce that more than $478,000 will be awarded to five organizations as a result of their joint RFP. These grants will fund programs focused on the development of resources, programmatic models, and/or advocacy related to Supported Decision-Making (SDM) for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Read more...

Bethany House, a Local Homeless Shelter, Partners with the Cincinnati LEND Program to Improve Trauma-Informed Care for Shelter Staff and Resident Families

LEND trainees have partnered with researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital as part of an ongoing project to provide trauma-informed care training to homeless shelter staff. The team has partnered with Bethany House, a local homeless shelter, to implement the training curriculum for staff members to connect better with the families they serve. Read more...

University of Cincinnati UCEDD Receives Grant to Establish a Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities

The University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCCEDD), has received a three-year, $1.5 million grant to lead a national coalition to establish the Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities (CDHPD). The grant is made possible by the Administration on Community Living and the goal is to identify and reduce life-limiting healthcare inequities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by improving access to medical protocols that reduce medical discrimination. 
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UD Get's $1 Million Grant for Special Education Training
(DE UCEDD) 

The Center for Disabilities Studies, in partnership with other education centers at the University of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE), is offering the state's first special education-specific leadership training program. Called the Special Education Administrative Leadership (SEAL) program, it is supported by a five-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Applications became available in January, and the training sessions will launch in August. Read more...

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Works to Create Advocacy Education Opportunities for Community 

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) has been creating multiple ways in which the greater Vanderbilt and Nashville community can gain skills in advocacy. With a LEND group project geared towards developing an "Advocacy Toolkit" and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's recent 2020 Educate to Advocate public policy workshop, Vanderbilt students, staff, and faculty work to make advocacy skills both attainable and accessible. Read more...

OHSU UCEDD Prioritizes Youth Health Care Transition

The Institute on Development & Disability (IDD) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Transition Committee has been working to address this issue since 2011. The committee is led by two University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) faculty, Kim Solondz, M.S., OTR/L, Director of the Occupational Therapy Program, and Maureen Delongis, M.S.W., LCSW, Director of Social Work, both at the Child Development & Rehabilitation Center in the Institute. 
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Call for Participation: Michigan Older Caregivers of Emerging Adults with Autism and other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (MI-OCEAN) Caregiver Support Project

The Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute (MI-DDI) at Wayne State University is proud to announce The MIchigan Older Caregivers of Emerging Adults with Autism and other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (MI-OCEAN) Caregiver Support Project. MI- OCEAN is a statewide project funded by The Michigan Health Endowment Fund. The primary aim of MI-OCEAN is to address the needs and health concerns of aging caregivers (age 55+) ofImage of two hand holding each otheradults with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Read more...

Westchester Institute for Human Development partners with Touro College of Dental Medicine in Valhalla, NY for "Family Teams" Training (NY UCDEDD/LEND)

Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD) developed and coordinated a training on "Caring for Patients with Disabilities", for third year dental school students, from the Touro College of Dental Medicine, on the campus of New York Medical College, in Valhalla, NY. Eight "family teams" comprised of parents and their teens/young adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities or other special healthcare needs, participated in the training at New York Medical College. Read more...

WIHDStaff Featured on Fox 5 New York (NY UCEDD/LEND)

WIHD staff members, Naomi Brickel and Brendan Klein, were featured on Fox 5 New York with Ernie Anastos to speak about the vital social opportunities they create for people with disabilities through social groups. Naomi Brickel is the Director of the Community Support Network and Brendan Klein is the Youth Advocacy and Engagement Coordinator at WIHD. Read more...

Iowa's New Community Ambassadors Have a Story to Tell (IA UCEDD)

Iowa's UCEDD recently launched a new program, sending the first cohort of Community Ambassadors to talk to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their family members, about community living and the state's Money Follows the Person program (MFP). The new Community Ambassadors, Ty, Josh, Jess, Michael, Brady and Steph, presented in November at Woodward Resource Center, an intermediate care facility in Woodward, Iowa. They shared their stories as MFP participants, and the family member of a participant, who made the transition from congregate living facilities to community living through the MFP program. Read more...

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Kansas LEND Trainee - Robinson International Scholar

Delaney Owen is currently a speech language pathology graduate student and a long term LEND Trainee at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She was selected for the Robinson International Scholar Studies Award. The Robinson International Studies Award honors former KUMC Professor, Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs, and Chief of Staff, Dr. David W. Robinson, and his commitment to cross-cultural education. Read more... 

Va-LEND Trainee Receives Champions of Accessibility Award

Va-LEND Trainee, Lynne Fetter received the Champions of Accessibility Award from the Transforming Accessibility Initiative (TAI) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Fetter was one of thirteen honored at TAI's annual fall conference. This award aimed to honor individuals, departments, groups, or websites committed to advocating for accessibility in their community. Recipients show passion and drive for promoting access and are making a large impact on the VCU Community, according to TAI. Fetter won under the graduate category, as her Social Work internship at the Center on Transition Innovations (CTI) at VCU focused on supporting youths with disability transition from school to the workplace. Read more... 

Former NJLEND Family Fellows Partner with Family Voices NJ to Highlight Parent Professional - Partnerships in Training Programs in the Exceptional Parent Guide 2020: Navigating Special Needs Resources

Two former NJLEND Family Fellows partnered with Family Voices NJ recently to highlight parent-professional partnerships in training programs in the Exceptional Parent Guide 2020: Navigating Special Needs Resources. Their article on matching future healthcare professionals with families of children with special needs highlights the NJLEND Mentor Family Experience as well as other opportunities for parents to serve as educators of future health care professionals. Read more... 

AUCD Invites Host Applications for the Spring 2020 Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Disability Employment (PFP-IDE)

AUCD is excited to invite host applications for the Spring 2020 Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Disability Employment (PFP-IDE). PFP-IDE is a U.S. Department of State professional exchange program that enables emerging disability rights leaders from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to participate in a five-week Fellowship in the U.S. where they will learn about disability advocacy and inclusive employment. Hosts will provide mentorship to the Professional Fellows and will collaborate to develop an inclusive employment project for their home countries.
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2020 Intensive Summer ASD Training for School Personnel, Community Service Providers, Administrators and Consultants Working with PreK-12 Students with ASD and a Range of Disabilities

Register early for the HANDS in Autism' Week-Long Intensive Summer Training for School Personnel. While the program includes traditional instructional methods such as lectures and discussion, the emphasis of training is on increasing participant knowledge and skill towards the process of making effective programming decisions for individuals with ASD and related disorders through hands-on application and coaching. Designed for school personnel, community service providers, administrators and consultants working with preK-12 students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related disabilities. Read more...

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PacRim2020

March 2-3, 2020, Honolulu, HI

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.  Read more...

2020 Pre-EHDI LEND Workshop

March 8, 2020, Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center

This workshop will introduce LEND pediatric audiology trainees to the various challenges associated with effectively serving deaf/hard of hearing children (including those with additional disabilities) from clinical practice and systems perspectives. It is a unique, interactive learning opportunity that brings together trainees and faculty from across the country. The focus will be on shared decision making and journeying with families during transitions. Read more...

2020 UCEDD Directors' Retreat and TA Institute

March 11-12, 2020, Crystal City - Washington, DC

The TA Institute provides an opportunity for UCEDD leaders to network, meet with their federal project officers, and learn of new initiatives, national trends, and other information vital to the administration of the UCEDD programs. Read more...

Disability Policy Seminar 2020 and AUCD Policy Forum

March 22-25, 2020, Washington, DC

The Disability Policy Seminar is the premier opportunity to cultivate champions on Capitol Hill and advance the grassroots movement for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Read more...

AUCD for All 2020 Gala: Celebrating Leadership in Arts and Culture

April 22, 2020, Washington, DC

Join AUCD for our annual AUCD for All Gala to celebrate leadership in arts and culture and the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ensuring inclusion and belonging for people with disabilities and their families in all aspects of life includes access to, and participation in, the arts and culture.  Read more...

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