WELCOME

This toolkit will serve as a foundation for a national effort that will enhance diversity, inclusion, and cultural and linguistic competence; cultivate partnerships; respond to increasingly diverse communities across the country; and develop strategies for continuing efforts to better serve diverse populations.

The primary focus is on three audiences in the disability community:

1. Federal funders, including the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB);
2. National organizations, including the Association of University Centers on Disabilities; and
   
3. University-based centers and programs, including University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD) and Leadership in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) programs.
   

The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (administered by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities or AIDD), the Division of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Strategic Plan for 2012-2020, and the 2015-2016 Strategic Map for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) all address elements of diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competence. This Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit provides concrete objectives, strategies, and resources to help these audiences realize their goals in this area. It also provides a foundation for future efforts, including developing a blueprint for AUCD's network to collectively make progress in diversity, inclusion, and cultural and linguistic competence.

Message from AUCD Executive Director Andrew J. Imparato

 As a national network of federally-funded university-based centers working to improve the quality of life of children and adults with disabilities, we have a responsibility to champion and model diversity, equity and inclusion in all that we do.  I am confident that the tools and strategies incorporated into this website will be a useful resource for our network and our partners as we seek to increase our diversity at all levels; integrate cultural, linguistic and cross-disability competence across all activities; and engage with underrepresented communities to reduce disparities in access, outcomes and quality.  Let’s all use and add to this resource as we take affirmative steps to better reflect, connect with, and listen to our diverse stakeholders.

RECENTLY ADDED RESOURCES

The Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit is a living, collaborative document and we look forward to sharing and learning together. New resources are added monthly. If you have resources you would like us to consider including, please email them to ImplementDiversity@aucd.org

July 2018 Updates:

• Collecting Patient Data: Improving Health Equity In Your Practice
• Leadership for Equity and Inclusivity in Schools: The Cultural Work of Inclusive Schools
• Recruiting and Retaining Black Students for Special Education Teacher Preparation Inclusion Programs
• School Discipline Guidance and Students' Civil Rights
• For Pain Care, Race Shouldn't Matter, But It Does
• Why are there so few disabled architects and architecture students?
• Emergency rooms are often the only dialysis option for undocumented immigrants
• Ethnic-racial health disparities are social justice issues
• Black students with disabilities suspended more than white peers
• How Race and Class Drive Factors of the Opioid Crisis & Legislation

CASE STUDY

QUILTBAG2: Queer Inclusion as Diversity

The Alaska UCEDD, at the Center for Human Development, University of Alaska Anchorage, is working to nurture relationships with intersectionally diverse community partners, and research/evaluation stakeholders. A major project in 2015 involved conducting research and evaluation for a large community collaborative. It brought together three main community organizations, and involved training members from at least half a dozen others.