Amie Lulinski served as the 2011 AUCD Disability Policy Leadership Fellow.  Prior to the Fellowship, and immediately following, Amie was employed at the Institute on Disability and Human Development, Illinois' UCEDD, as a Senior Research Specialist in Developmental Disabilities and was also a PhD student in Disability Studies. Amie successfully defended her dissertation in April of 2014 and has returned to Washington, DC to work at The Arc of the United States as the Director of Rights Policy. 

Amie received her BA in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1995. Prior to beginning her graduate academic career, Amie served in various capacities for many years supporting people with disabilities including as a Teaching Aid in an integrated daycare, Psychiatric Aid, Direct Support Professional, Service Coordinator, and Director of Quality Assurance and Training at community-based agencies in both Missouri and Illinois. Amie earned her MS in Disability and Human Development in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Amie's policy interests include deinstitutionalization and home and community-based services (HCBS) as well as Medicaid long-term supports and services.

While serving as an AUCD Disability Policy Fellow in 2011, Amie was engaged in several activities:

• Envisioning the Future: Allies in Self Advocacy Summits. Along with Liz Weintraub (AUCD Self Advocacy Specialist and Member of the President's Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities), Amie co-authored a guide book and five webinars for Summit attendees. In addition to collaborating on resources, Amie participated in the Summit Planning Committee, served as a state team co-facilitator, took photographs, and assisted with overall summit coordination. 
• Advocated for the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011.
• Amie was instrumental in AUCD's efforts to protect Medicaid. She served as a Team Lead on the Ad Hoc Medicaid Task Force of the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (CCD). The Medicaid Task Force had been meeting with the staff of key legislators on the Hill to educate them about the importance of Medicaid to people with disabilities. In addition to the Medicaid Task Force, Amie served on the CCD's Long Term Supports and Services Task Force.
• Coordinated AUCD's Legislative Affairs Committee's response to CMS' proposed rules on HCBS Waiver Programs.
• Maintained the Health Reform Hub, an online resource created by former Fellow Paul Galonsky, that acts as an online gateway developed by AUCD to provide technical assistance and information about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
• Contributed information on Medicaid and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act to AUCD's weekly newsletter, Legislative News In Brief.
• Introduced the AUCD Fellowship in Disability Policy Leadership page to assist AUCD with recruitment efforts as well as maintain information on former Fellows as a matter of historical record.
• Contributed to AUCD's Early Career Professionals blog.
• Coordinated a panel at the AUCD 2011 Conference titled, "Celebrating Ten Years of Leadership in Disability Policy," featuring former AUCD Fellows in Disability Policy Leadership who will reflect on their experience and discuss how it continues to impact their work on systems change, research, advocacy and service.

For more information about Amie's Fellowship experience, read her final report.