Led by LEND Health Administration and Social Work Trainee Libby Quinn, OHSU Institute on Development and Disability opted to submit public comment as an organization on the recent proposed ruling for updates to Section 504. [alt text: Libby Quinn, a light skin woman with wavy blonde and brown hair wears a turtleneck and smiles for a professional headshot in an outdoor setting against cement terraced grass]

Honoring the theme of the AUCD Annual Conference, this edition of ExceLens is excited to feature AUCD Emerging Leader Blake Warner. Blake has previously completed two years of SD LEND and is currently serving as a UCEDD trainee and completing a predoctoral internship at the UCLA Tarjan Center. Blake is passionate about advocacy and policy reform efforts, particularly for LGBTQ+ individuals in the disability community. The AUCD Community Inclusion Team was able to sit down with Blake and learn more about his interests, goals, and experience so far as an AUCD Emerging Leader. Please read on to see the highlights from Blake's interview!

Is your UCEDD or LEND eager to drive global change in disability inclusion? Host a Fellow from the prestigious Professional Fellows Program (PFP)! The PFP supports mid-career disability rights professionals from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia to participate in a five-week Fellowship in the US in Spring 2024. As a host, we will match you with a Fellow whose professional interests and goals align with your organization to exchange disability-inclusive civic engagement knowledge and practices.

Stock photography lacks disability representation. The photos are often staged and use models without disabilities resulting in misrepresentation and unnatural scenes. The UK Human Development Institute (HDI) created a library of 1000+ photos that you can download, share, and

AUCD is excited to announce (3) openings for the AUCD Emerging Leaders Internship and (5) openings for Council Trainee Representatives. Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year are now open and close on August 4th, 2023.

South Dakota LEND faculty and alums volunteered for Healthy Hearing Screenings at the South Dakota Special Olympics 2023 Summer Games in Spearfish, SD. Marni Johnson Martin (Interdisciplinary Training and Clinic Director - USD Center for Disabilities), Elizabeth (Liz) K. Hanson (SD LEND Discipline Head for SLP and Research) were joined by former discipline head, Paul Brueggeman (Audiology) and graduated trainees: Carly Johnson (Audiology) and Maya Gogoi (Medicine), along with other volunteers, to screen 90 individuals.

University of Miami Mailman Center LEND Trainee, Elena Fernandez, receives the UM Racial Justice grant which she used for her work with the Linda Ray Intervention Center.

Equitable health data represents all populations and can be linked to their common characteristics. When researchers from the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (ME UCEDD), sought to examine the health equity of Maine's population with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities regarding COVID-19, they encountered a data gap. Maine's COVID-19 data could be disaggregated by gender, race, ethnicity, and age, but not by disability status or type.

This year, 28 fellows have earned full MNLEND certificates, along with seven intermediate trainees who joined the program for a more limited, focused experience. They come from University of Minnesota academic disciplines, including Public Health Administration, Law, Social Work, Psychology, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pediatric Dentistry, and many more; or are community members in disability-related professions, self-advocates, or family advocates.