Where Disability and Diversity Meet

Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice (IDRPP) is home to one of six equity, diversity and inclusion coaches who advise the nation’s university-based centers on disability.  Dr. Eduardo Ortiz’s role with AUCD lasts through September 29. But he said work on understanding diversity and its intersection with disability should—and will—continue much farther into the future at IDRPP.

HBCU Collaboration Aims to Address Disparities in Autism Diagnosis in Black Families

Researchers from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD) and Meharry Medical College (MMC) are collaborating to better understand the diagnostic experiences of Black or African American families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Chicagoland Disabled People of Color and the Illinois UCEDD Partner for COVID-19 Awareness Projects

In the Spring of 2021, the Chicagoland Disabled People of Color with the support of the Institute on Disability and Human Development (IDHD), partnered with the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network (NCRN) through a mini-grant, where Jae Jin Pak and Timotheus Garden created events and information on COVID-19 Vaccines, resources, and updates to the disability community in the Chicagoland area. View the slideshow deck to read and see the incredible work that they did to increase COVID-19 awareness in their community.

Addressing COVID-19 Related Health Inequities

The North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities reflects on their participation in the National COVID Resiliency Network community coalition meetings which increased their awareness in health inequities related to COVID-19. They share the impact of their participation, with the creation of video and testimonials related to COVID vaccinations.

Vacunda? Vacundo? Vacundx?

AUCD participated in NCRN's Regional Community Coalition to increase COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Read a story from one of our AUCD Network members, who engaged in this coalition.

Social Inclusion as Social Justice

Preparing Trainees to Engage with Culturally Diverse Communities

Dr. Mirian Ofonedu, Director of Training at the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute takes on social inclusion as social justice.  View her two recent publications with practical strategies for social inclusion of children with disabilities as we continue to navigate the pandemic as well as strategies for equitable transition to in-person school activities.  As a Training Director, Dr. Ofonedu has also presented on preparing trainees to engage with and in diverse communities. View her presentation from the 2020 AUCD conference to learn of promising strategies for improving training programs.

Expanding Inclusive Apprenticeship Opportunities: ICI Partners on Two US Department of Labor Awards

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) will partner with Jobs for the Future and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to modernize and diversify registered apprenticeship programs.
ICI's role with both projects will focus on making apprenticeships more inclusive of individuals with disabilities.

Using Cultural Brokers to Build Bridges and Increase Access to Services

Virginia's Partnership for People with Disabilities is a leader in using cultural brokerage within parent-to-parent support. Their UCEDD's cultural brokerage program began in 2009 and now they maintain at least six part-time cultural brokers. This case study explores lessons learned from their cultural brokerage program and research.

Special Interest Group and Open Dialogues to Promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at CLD

The Center for Leadership in Disability (CLD) at Georgia State University created a special interest group (SIG) to further their work in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. The SIG has been meeting regularly and engages the larger staff on pressing topics relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion, especially in regard to ongoing racial violence in the U.S. One approach of the SIG is to use Open Dialogues to promote personal self-reflection and reflection on center's activities as it relates to current events.

MN LEND Fellows Reach Underserved Communities

A partnership between Help Me Grow MN and the Minnesota Act Early Project promotes awareness in diverse cultural communities about the need for early evaluation and intervention. This partnership helped connect more than 2,400 Minnesota families to resources in 2020, according to the Help Me Grow grant report, published in September 2020.

Kennedy Krieger Institute Launches Office of Health, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity

Institute appoints Harolyn Belcher, MD, MHS as its inaugural chief diversity officer

Kennedy Krieger Institute, a non-profit organization internationally known for providing a wide range of health and education services for children, adolescents and adults with diseases, disorders or injuries that impact the nervous system, announced today that it is launching the Office of Health, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (O-HEID). The new Office is designed to promote the health and well-being of those who work, train, and receive services at the Institute through culturally relevant, evidence- and equity-based approaches that assure diversity and inclusion.

The ECHO Effect

The University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently launched two new initiatives - ECHO AAC and ECHO Autism WI. Both programs are targeted to help improve and expand teletraining services using the Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) platform.

Cultural competency: A guiding principle of the START model

Culture is at the core of our humanity. Everyone has a cultural perspective that helps us to know who we are. Without attention to and acceptance that there are unique perspectives, we miss opportunities to enlist our collective character strengths toward individual, professional and organizational growth.

Communicating disabilities research in plain language through brand-new Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (T

"The Promise of Discovery" is a new podcast hosted by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) that highlights research in intellectual and developmental disabilities in plain language, making it accessible to the general public. The podcast launched May 8, with the premiere of the first three episodes. The goals of the podcast are to host conversations about research in plain language and to highlight "real world" implications. 

International Service Learning and its Implications for Healthcare Practice

One of the twelve Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leadership Competencies includes cultural competency. As stated in the handbook, cultural competence is "a developmental process that occurs along a continuum and evolves over an extended period" (Maternal Health & Child Bureau, 2018). What better way to engage in this developmental process than to participate in international service learning?

Becoming a Leader on the Rosebud Indian Reservation (SD UCEDD/LEND)

In September of 2015, the USD Center for Disabilities was one of 14 centers across the country to receive a National Training Initiative (NTI) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living. This grant gives the Center an opportunity to partner with Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Indian Reservation to design a Diversity Fellowship opportunity. The Center's project focused on supporting a collaborative, immersion, experimental learning approach for two Sinte Gleska University students. 

OHSU Institute on Development and Disability UCEDD elevates University Job Carving Program

The OHSU Job Carving Program now has a public face on the UCEDD's website. This university-wide effort has created opportunities for over 30 people with disabilities and is starting to shift institutional culture. The program recently received national recognition from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2019 Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Award.

LEND Fellows Past and Present Lead Multicultural Autism Action Network

Maren Christenson Hofer joined the MNLEND Fellowship cohort this 2018-2019 year. As the parent of an autistic child, she is keenly aware of challenges faced by families trying to navigate educational, medical, therapeutic, and other support and service systems to ensure that their autistic children's needs are met. Maren currently serves as a leader in the Multicultural Autism Action Network (MAAN), a non-profit organization built on the idea that navigating autism support and service systems can be incredibly complex for families, and even more overwhelming when differences in culture, language, and power dynamics are at play.

Maximizing Leadership Potential in Racial and Ethnic Minority LEND Trainees

The LEND programs of the PacWest region have worked together and consistently sought ways to strengthen interdisciplinary leadership training and achieve a diverse MCH workforce over the past four years. We began the process by identifying barriers and gaps in supporting and mentoring racially and ethnically diverse LEND trainees.

Ed Esbeck - Self-Advocate LEND Trainee

For Edward Esbeck, a 20-year-old native of Uganda who moved to Iowa City, IA, with his family in 2014, leadership is about helping others overcome challenges to accomplish their goals and dreams. Edward is putting this philosophy into action as the first self-advocacy discipline trainee in the history of the Iowa LEND program – an experience traditionally designed for graduate students in health disciplines that involves 300+ hours of interactive seminars, clinical and community experiences, research, and policy projects, and self-reflection over the course of an academic year. As a trainee, Edward is learning about systems of care for people with disabilities, the experiences of family members, and how to grow and thrive in a professional setting.

MN UCEDD Partners with MN DHS to Produce Multi-Cultural Films on Autism

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the University of Minnesota (MN UCEDD), in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), has produced, "On the Autism Spectrum: Families Find Help and Hope," a series of five short films that raise awareness and understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and of services available to Minnesota families within the African American, Hmong, Latino, Native American, and Somali communities.

Dreamer Dreaming Up Change for the Healthcare System (OR UCEDD)

This summer I had the opportunity to be an intern for the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) within the Institute on Development and Disability (IDD) at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU). My role was with IDD's Diversity Task Force (IDTF) that is made up of providers, clinicians, faculty members, staff, and family members. The mission of the IDTF is as follows: As compassionate leaders in healthcare, we strive to provide innovative and comprehensive services in a welcoming environment. The diversity of life is valued here, and we are committed to making inclusion a priority so everyone at IDD feels comfortable, valued, and respected. 

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.

From the Desk of a Bilingual, Multicultural Advocate, Cultural Broker, Interpreter and Translator

In April of 2014, within a year living in Georgia, Brenda Liz (Bren) Muñoz met Stacey Ramirez, former Director for Individual and Family Support Services at the Center for Leadership in Disability (CLD), School of Public Health at Georgia, and currently the new State Director for The Arc of Georgia. It was a powerful kindred connection, and two weeks later they were working on a medical textbook chapter on cultural and linguistic competence and life span services, opportunities and supports for individuals, families and communities living with intellectual and developmental disabilities edited by renowned author and developmental pediatrician Dr. Leslie Rubin and et al.