AUCD 360 - August 2021

Upcoming Leadership Opportunity for Trainees: 2021-2022 AUCD Emerging Leaders Internship

AUCD is excited to announce three openings for the AUCD Emerging Leaders Internship for the 2021-2022 academic year. Ideal candidates are interested in learning more about information sharing, resource development and stakeholder engagement in a national non-profit organization setting. Interns will represent the AUCD Emerging Leaders Community - a network of current and former trainees, including early career professionals, and act as connection points between their respective centers/programs and the broader AUCD network. Read more...

AUCD 2021 Exhibitor and Sponsorship Opportunities Now Available

AUCD is committed to providing sponsors and exhibitors with the opportunity to engage with and reach out to a vast network of community leaders, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, professionals, advocates and students. A virtual platform will allow for recognition on both AUCD's conference website and the virtual event website, free registrations for your group to attend the conference depending on sponsorship level, an opportunity to sponsor and have banners at the top of virtual conference events, targeted and individualized interactions with attendees, and much more. Read more...

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AUCD's Prepared4ALL Initiativ Selected for 2021 Horace G. (Hod) Ogden Award

AUCD's Prepared4ALL initiative has been selected for the 2021 Horace G. (Hod) Ogden Award from the American Public Health Association's Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section. This award is highly competitive and honors outstanding use of humor to promote better health education, health promotion and health communication practice. It is named for Hod Ogdgen the first director of the Bureau of Health Education established in the late 1970s at CDC. Read more...

The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Appoints Dr. Karen Brown Dean of the School of Education

The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) has appointed Dr. Karen Brown to serve as Dean of the School of Education after an extensive external search for a permanent hire. She has more than 20 years of higher education experience and 14 years in higher education leadership. Dr. Brown joined UVI in 2015 as an associate director of the Virgin Islands UCEDD and served as interim dean for two academic years. Read more...

Haley Potter Awarded Burberry Award

The University of Kentucky (UK) Human Development Institute (HDI) has awarded the prestigious Paul Kevin Burberry Award to Haley Potter. Haley is a full-time HDI staff member working across multiple projects at HDI.As part of her studies in the Universal Design Certificate Program, she created a guidebook for performing arts professionals to implement accessibility, inclusion and universal design in their organizations. Read more...

ICI Staffer Elected Chair of Melrose Commission on Disability

David Hoff of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston was elected in May as chair of the City of Melrose Commission on Disability. The seven member commission, formed in 2020, is working to enhance inclusion of people with disabilities. Key priorities include: ensuring all public meetings are publicly accessible, voting access, enhancing special education, and conducting a community survey to identify additional needs. Read more...

In Recognition of Senator Mike Enzi

The Wyoming Institute for Disabilities extends our condolences to the Enzi family. Former Senator Michael B. Enzi was a champion for Wyoming and for individuals with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities. As a four-term senator with strong conservative principles, he sponsored, supported, and worked in bipartisan fashion to enact legislation to improve rights, services, health care, education and employment for individuals with developmental and other disabilities. Read more...

Child Care Aware of Kentucky Regional Administrator selected for 2021 Exchange Leadership Initiative

Hans Peterson, Regional Administrator of the Jefferson region of Child Care Aware (CCA) of Kentucky has been selected to participate in the 2021 Exchange Leadership Initiative. According to ChildCareExchange.com, the Exchange Leadership Initiative has been making leadership more visible in the field of early care and education to provide vision, stability, and direction.Read more...

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30 Years of Community Living

In partnership with the Institute on Community Integration at University of Minnesota and University of Colorado at the Anschutz Medical Campus, ICI's StateData.info has released 30 Years of Community Living for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities.Between 1987 and 2017, people with disabilities advocated for policy changes that significantly improved community life, employment outcomes, technology access and more. Read more...


The Latest ThinkWork State Date Blue Book is Here - What's happening in your state?

Employment outcomes for people with disabilities have improved with the national focus on competitive, integrated employment. Yet, there are still remarkable employment disparities between people with IDD and people with other disabilities. In 2018, less than one in five working-age adults supported by IDD agencies had paid jobs in the community. The State Data Blue Book can help you use this data to guide policy and practice change, research, advocacy, and employment services and supports. With the StateData Blue Book and other tools, you can find, sort and analyze data related to employment for people with IDD. Read more...

Kentucky Supported Higher Education Partnership Launches Website

The University of Kentucky (UK) Human Development Institute (HDI) launches the Kentucky Supported Higher Education Partnership's (KSHEP) website. KSHEP is a network of institutions of higher education (IHEs) committed to increasing higher education options, access and success for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Kentucky. Read more...

SELN Kicks Off Membership Year 16

July 2021 signals the start of the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) membership year 16. Founded in 2006, this collaborative effort is jointly managed by the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI)/University of Massachusetts Boston and the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS). Currently 23 state IDD agencies have committed to improving integrated employment outcomes for the 2021-2022 membership year. Common strategic themes will be explored through state-specific technical assistance and network-wide discussions. Read more...

New Book Spotlighting Parents with Disabilities Hits Shelves

A new book being published in Louisville, Kentucky, by the Avocado Press and the Center for Accessible Living contains the stories of 30 families, where one or both parents have disabilities. In enabling these parents to tell their stories, "A Celebration of Family: Stories of Parents with Disabilities" illustrates the infinite variety of the American family. Read more...

ICI Partners on Two US Department of Labor Awards to Expand Inclusive Apprenticeship Opportunities

Jobs for the Future's Diversity and Inclusion Technical Assistance Center of Excellence will focus on expanding opportunities in Registered Apprenticeships for justice-involved individuals, people of color, people in rural communities, people with disabilities, women, and youth. Jobs for the Future will work with ICI and other stakeholders to share best practices for recruiting and retaining individuals who have been traditionally underrepresented in Registered Apprenticeships. Read more...

University of Miami Mailman Center NextGen Students Join the Vaccine Confidence Grant Project

This past April, the Mailman Center for Child Development was awarded an AUCD grant to encourage responsiveness to the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities to increase vaccine confidence. Collaboration amongst network partners to engage in continued conversation around issues is the primary goal, as well the creation of materials and resources to disseminate information about vaccines and the vaccination process. Read more...

PFP-IDE Alum Aneth Gerana Trains Women with Disabilities to Become Independent Business Leaders

AUCD Professional Fellows alumna Aneth Gerana completed a groundbreaking self-employment and business leadership training initiative for women with disabilities in Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Using lessons from her PFP-IDE Virtual Fellowship in 2020, Aneth delivered a series of trainings on practical and business skills to women with disabilities who aspire to own and manage small enterprises that produce and sell food. As of July 2021, 50 Tanzanian women with various auditory, visual, physical, and developmental disabilities have graduated from Aneth's new program, which has helped them start and strengthen their own small enterprises. Read more

PFP-IDE Alumni Ronald Kasule & Hassan Waddimba Launch Uganda's First Disability Accommodations Website

Ugandan Professional Fellows alumni Ronald Kasule and Hassan Waddimba have officially launched the DASUNS online platform (Diversity Ability Support Network System), which will broaden access to critical services for people with disabilities in their country. DASUNS (Diversity Ability Support Network System) is a social enterprise that provides information about disability resources and services in order to connect people with disabilities, service providers and agencies. Its new website is a historic step forward for online access to disability accommodations in Uganda. Read more

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Twitter Chat on Accessibility and Universal Design

Monday, August 30, 2021, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET

The AUCD Community Education and Dissemination Council (CEDC) invites you to join us on Monday, August 30, from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET for a Twitter chat on Accessibility and Universal Design! We will be taking over the @AUCDNews Twitter handle to share insight and resources from our network. This is an easy way to share and gather resources on improving accessibility and implementing Universal Design where we live, work, and play. Read more...

Room to Grow: Journey to Cultural and Linguistic Competency Conference

Tuesday, September 14, 2021, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET

The Room to Grow: Journey to Cultural and Linguistic Competency Conference is an annual event sponsored by the office for Health, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. This year's theme is on "Truth and Reconciliation". Read more...

AUCD2021 - Learning Together: Connecting Research and Lived Experience

November 15-17, 2021, Virtual

We are excited to have our AUCD community explore the connection between people with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who carry out research about disabilities. How we talk about research and the words we use make a big difference in how we think about research. We hope the conference will give us a chance to learn about ways to talk about research that everyone can understand.  Read more...

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