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.

AUCD Partners with USAging

AUCD is thrilled to be a partner with USAging for the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative, thanks to vital funding from the Administration for Community Living. AUCD's selected Network Centers and Programs are providing needed flu and COVID-19 shots to people with disabilities and older adults to help keep them healthy.

The State of the States in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awarded a 5-Year Grant

The State of the States in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (State of the States) has been awarded a 5-year grant from the Administration on Community Living (ACL) that will continue to support spreading their knowledge of data regarding IDD services and supports. The grant totals $450,000 per year over a period of 5 years and will be used toward information dissemination activities such as quarterly webinars, project reports, customized data briefs, data visualization, and more.

Episode 20 of BoggsCast Now Available: Inclusion and Employment Advocacy with Wendy Lacey

The Boggs Center is excited to share the latest episode of BoggsCast, a podcast where faculty and staff explore best practice, showcase success stories, and help listeners envision possibilities for innovation through interviews with state and national experts.

UConn UCEDD and Rhode Island UCEDD Present to International Network on Inclusion for Early Childhood Education in Athens, Greece

Mary Beth Bruder, Ph.D., Director of the University of Connecticut Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and Amy Grattan, Ph.D., Director of the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities, Rhode Island College, were invited to serve as members of an international leadership group focused on the development of an International Network on Inclusion for early childhood education in Athens, Greece.

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.

Nugent Appointed to National Disability Rights Network Board of Directors

Austin Nugent has built bridges between many different parts of the disability community, and she's a Disability Program Administrator at HDI, has been named an At-Large member for the National Disability Rights Network's (NDRN) Board of Directors. That means that she'll help provide oversight to an organization that protects and advocates for people with all sorts of disabilities nationwide, focusing on ensuring that people's rights are protected.

OHSU Institute on Development and Disability UCEDD Expands Impact of Sexual Health Education

The UCEDD at OHSU has implemented The Friendships and Dating Program, created by the University of Alaska Anchorage Center for Human Development, in Oregon for the past three years. With its growing success, the FDP has received a grant extension and will continue for another year.

UCEDD Resource Center ExceLens Series: The Ohio State University (OSU) Nisonger Center: All Smiles in Ohio: OSU Nisonger Center Dental Clinic

The ExceLens series highlights the valuable work of the UCEDDs within university systems, the community, and in the lives of people with disabilities across the lifespan and their family members. The dental program at The Ohio State University (OSU) Nisonger Center opened in 1971 as a program initially designed to care for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As the patient population aged, the practice on campus (McCampbell Hall) transitioned from children to adult patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to ensure access to care. In 2003, a separate stand-alone dental clinic was opened in the community to continue serving the oral healthcare needs of children and adolescents with IDD. The McCampbell Hall facility is the only clinic in Ohio whose entire focus is adults with IDD.

ICI Laura Bozeman Receives Award

Laura Bozeman, professor and graduate program director for Vision Studies, was presented with the Suterko-Cory Award in recognition of her international leadership, dedication to the profession of orientation and mobility, and distinguished efforts to improve services to individuals with a visual impairment. This award recognizes Dr. Bozeman as an international ambassador and role model to orientation and mobility specialists throughout the world. The award recognizes her commitment to the field of vision studies and its expansive reach beyond her home boundaries, with an international impact across the United States as well as the Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and Ireland. She received this award at the 18th International Mobility Conference held in Warsaw, Poland.