Prevention & Wellness

News

• Tuesdays With Liz: Jerry Alliston on Emergency Preparedness

  This episode of Tuesdays with Liz is dedicated to the importance of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. Liz interviews Jerry Alliston (Community Education Director at the Mississippi UCEDD) about his experience and lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

• Access All Day (OH UCEDD/LEND)

  The LEND Program at the University of Cincinnati UCEDD provides training to Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden staff to help make the zoo more accessible for people with disabilities and their families. The last two years, the zoo has hosted an Access for All Day, where they invite the community to take part in the progress they've made to make the zoo more accessible such as: adult changing tables, sensory friendly restrooms, planning maps, social narratives, visual supports, sensory bags and more.

• Promising Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Study on Treating Core Symptoms in Rett Syndrome Supports Further Trials

  Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Director Jeffrey Neul, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues studied the safety and effectiveness of the drug trofinetide in female children and adolescents (age 5-15) with Rett syndrome (RTT). Findings were recently published in the journal Neurology and show promise for improving core features associated with the rare disease, supporting further trials.

• Jennifer Longdon on Gun Violence

  In this week's edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, Liz Weintraub interviewed Jennifer Longdon, is a person with a disability as a result of gun violence. They spoke about her experience following the gun violence and how she became a disability advocate.

• Making the Minneapolis Parks More Accessible (MN UCEDD/LEND)

  Molly Peterson (LEND Fellow, 2018-19) is serious about play. "As a pediatric physical therapist, play is a pivotal aspect of my job description," she says. "Children are motivated to move and master mobility skills in an environment that appeals to them. It needs to be fun, exciting, and a little bit challenging. To me, community playgrounds foster that environment and provide children with or without a disability the opportunity to practice social, cognitive, and physical skills, and most importantly, the opportunity to play with peers. This project aims to stimulate discussion about inclusion and how playgrounds can be a stepping stone to promote inclusion from a young age." Peterson is talking about her LEND project that recommends the Minneapolis Board of Parks and Recreation make playgrounds more inclusive to people with disabilities.

• ReDiscovery (TX UCEDD)

  The purpose of ReDiscovery is to provide training, technical assistance, and educational materials on long-term recovery services and resources for individuals with disabilities and other access and functional needs affected by Hurricane Harvey.

• CT LEND Fellows Learn about Inclusive Employment

  im and her husband Scott partnered with longtime friends, Noelle and Tim Alix, whose daughter Cate also has Down syndrome. Both families wanted an inclusive employment opportunity for the children and others in the community. Their vision is one of an inclusive community where everyone is welcome to work and to gather surrounded by great food, great coffee, and great people and a place where everyone belongs.

• 22q at the Bronx Zoo (NY UCEDD/LEND)

  Rose F. Kennedy UCEDD/LEND's Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) partnered with Einstein Buddies, (a medical school service learning club), Children's Hospital at Montefiore 22q11.2 specialty clinic, Bernice Morrow's Einstein Genetics lab and Harboring Hearts to sponsor 22q at the Bronx Zoo. The International 22q11.2

• Board President Amy Hewitt Testifies at the Reauthorizing Autism CARES Act of 2019 Hearing

  Amy Hewitt, AUCD Board President and Director of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, gave a powerful testimony on the importance of reauthorizing Autism CARES at the Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing on Tuesday, June 25, 2019.

• New Factsheet on Survivor Justice Is Disability Justice

  Schools Must Protect Students with Disabilities from Sexual Harassment.

  The National Women's Law Center (NWLC), National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), and National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) are excited to release our joint fact sheet in honor of the 47th anniversary of Title IX.

Upcoming Events

Continuing Education Seminar Room to Grow: Journey to Cultural and Linguistic Competency Conference "Ensuring Enclusion"  

Tuesday, September 17, 2019
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Baltimore, MD

Each year the Center for Diversity in Public Health Leadership Training organizes the Room to Grow: Journey to Cultural and Linguistic Competency. The conference brings national speakers to present on the latest research and practice related to addressing and reducing socially determined health disparities.

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Past Events

AAIDD 143 Annual Meeting  

Monday, June 24, 2019 - Thursday, June 27, 2019
Location: Twin Cities, MN

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.

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@AUCDNews Twitter chat #HealthyTeeth4all  

Wednesday, June 12, 2019
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Twitter Chat

This Twitter chat will engage the overall disability community in a conversation on oral health and encourage sharing of helpful resources. Based on what is shared, AUCD's National Center on Disability in Public Health will create a brief, which will be available by the ADA Anniversary at the end of July.

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Taking Charge of My Health Care  

Tuesday, June 11, 2019
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. PM
Location: Webinar

The Oregon Self-Advocacy Coalition, the Oregon Office on Disability and Health and the University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities is excited to share their newly released, free on-line toolkit, called "Taking Charge of My Health Care".

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Sex Talk for Self-Advocates Webinar #5  

Thursday, May 16, 2019
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: Webinar

Join us for Sex Talk for Self-Advocates Webinar #5. This webinar focuses on birth control and contraception for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This webinar is part of an on-going series that addresses self-advocate questions about relationships and sexuality. This series is a great learning opportunity for self-advocates, and professionals and paraprofessionals working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to better understand sexual health needs.

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Careers in the Arts: Promoting Access and Inclusion for People with Disabilities  

Thursday, May 16, 2019
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Webinar

Join the National Endowment for the Arts and Art Beyond Sight on May 16, 2019, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET, for the first in a series of six webinars promoting careers in the arts for people with disabilities. This webinar series is part of a toolkit designed to help expand employment and career development opportunities for disabled people as artists and cultural workers, which will be launched later this year.

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Resources

• New Materials on the Opioid Crisis and People with Disabilities for Consumers, Providers, and Community Organizations

  Three new issue briefs on medication treatment, peer support, and traumatic brain injury from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research grantee Brandeis University provide information for people with disabilities and their families, substance use treatment providers, and community organizations looking for resources on how the opioid crisis may be impacting people with disabilities.

• Public Health Surveillance of Prenatal Opioid Exposure in Mothers and Infants

  The US opioid crisis is the public health emergency of our time and requires urgent public health action to monitor and protect the most vulnerable Americans. We have witnessed a startling death toll in 2017 with 70 237 drug overdose deaths in the United States, of which two-thirds involved opioids. The devastating consequences of this epidemic for mothers and infants have received less attention. Increases in opioid use and misuse in pregnancy have paralleled the increases in the general population; at delivery hospitalization, there were 4 times as many women with an opioid use disorder in 2014 compared with 1999. One of the most immediate and visible impacts of the opioid crisis on infants is the drug withdrawal in the newborn period, termed neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). On the basis of 2014 data, 1 newborn was diagnosed with NAS every 15 minutes in the United States, totaling about 32 000 infants annually with associated hospital costs estimated at $563 million.

  PrenatalOpioidExposure.pdf [download]
• HRSA Issues Hurricane Resources for Children with Special Health Care Needs

  In collaboration with the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, HRSA has developed a collection of resources informing hurricane response and recovery for families, organizations, and clinicians caring for children with special health care needs.

• Integrating Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment into the Opioid Response

  The opioid crisis in the United States is devastating the lives of millions of Americans. Perhaps overshadowed by the alarming rise in overdoses and deaths is the accompanying numbers of injection-related infectious diseases. Opioid overdose deaths increased fivefold from 1999 to 2016, and new hepatitis C infections more than tripled from 2010 to 2016.

• Healthy Weight Research Network (HWRN) Update

  The Healthy Weight Research Network for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities (HWRN) was established in July 2013 with Autism CARES funding via the Maternal Child Health Bureau�s (MCHB). The HWRN is led by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at UMass Medical School, in collaboration with Tufts University School of Medicine. The HWRN�s mission is to advance the understanding of obesity risk factors in children with ASD and other developmental disabilities, to promote the development of evidence-based solutions to achieve healthy weight in this population, and to disseminate research findings to broad and diverse audiences.

• At-Risk Populations and Pandemic Influenza: Planning Guidance for State, Territorial, Tribal, and Local Health Departments
    from http://www.astho.org
• Center for Health Promotion Research for People with Disabilities
    from http://uic-chp.org
• Center on Health Promotion Research for Persons with Disabilities
    from http://uic-chp.org
• Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities
    from http://www.hesperian.org
• The AUCD Network: Promoting Wellness for Persons with Disabilities

  An abridged sampling for download and printing of wellness promotion activities

• Senator Harkin Reintroduces Promoting Wellness for Individuals with Disabilities Act

  Senator Harkin's floor statement.