Announcing the 2023-2024 Emerging Leaders Community Interns

The Emerging Leaders Community is excited to announce 3 Interns for the 2023-2024 training year! These trainees will serve as visible ambassadors to the broader AUCD network, interacting with AUCD staff at all levels and the AUCD Board of Directors' Emerging Leaders Representative.

Timing is Everything! New Mexico LEND Hosts Cerebral Palsy Early Identification and Intervention Virtual Conference

On October 21, 2023 NM LEND teamed up with the NM Cerebral Palsy Early Identification and Intervention Task Force to provide a full-day conference for over a hundred doctors, therapists, nurses and developmental specialists from across New Mexico. This is the fourth year that NM LEND Director, Sandra Heimerl, collaborated with the task force planning team to organize and offer this training.

2023 Residential Information Systems Project Summative Evaluation

The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) is evaluating the Residential Information Systems Project (RISP). Through this evaluation, NASDDDS will assess the extent to which RISP is meeting the needs of state DD agencies, organizations funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), elected officials and interested others. The evaluation is funded by the subcontract with the University of Minnesota from the ACL (Cooperative Agreement #90DNPA0001-05).

Host a Fellow from the Professional Fellows Program

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.

Identifying Autism in Rwanda

In rural Africa, people with autism and other disabilities are stigmatized and routinely hidden indoors. This summer, the MN UCEDD trained community health workers in Rwanda on identifying the signs of autism in children and on principles for addressing the needs of people with disabilities in rural areas.

Special Announcement from the Division of Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development

Updated Maternal and Child Health Leadership Competencies

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Division of MCH Workforce Development is proud to announce an update to the Maternal and Child Health Leadership Competencies! The MCH Leadership Competencies help equip the MCH workforce with the knowledge, skills, personal characteristics, and values to improve the health of MCH populations.

AIR-P Cureus Channel

AIR-P is excited to promote and share our recently launched Channel on Cureus, Autism and Health: Across the Lifespan. https://www.cureus.com/channels/airp# We are seeking research and commentaries that share AIR-P's mission to support innovative life course intervention research that promotes optimal health and well-being of autistic individuals across the lifespan.

"Let's Try a Different Way"

Agnes Cole is a recent MN LEND graduate who works at a service provider, runs her own non-profit organization, and who spent much of her fellowship working on a longitudinal study that tracks the living arrangements of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who receive services.

The Conversation Continues: When it Comes to Autism, Can We Reconcile the Medical and Social Models of Disability?

On June 15, I (Jason Folger, PhD) had the pleasure of re-convening nearly all of the panelists and speakers from the NE Regional Spring LEND Conference of May 8: When it Comes to Autism, Can We Reconcile the Medical and Social Models of Disability? The conference focused on the idea of exploring and reconciling the polarized ideas circulating in popular media that celebrating one's neurodiversity as an autistic person somehow diminishes or invalidates the emotional pain of caregivers of individuals living with what has come to be known as "profound autism" and vice-versa.

Gina Pola-Money, URLEND Faculty, Honored at AMCHP

Gina Pola-Money has been with URLEND for over 20 years heading up the Self-Advocate / Family program and was recently awarded the Merle McPherson Award by the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) in New Orleans, LA at its annual conference. "Our awards recognize individuals in the MCH field that have gone above and beyond to impact those around them positively," said Terrance E. Moore, CEO at AMCHP.