Save the Date for AUCD 2024
The AUCD 2024 Conference will be held November 3-6 in Washington, D.C. Please note: the 2024 Conference was originally scheduled for early December. Due to the late Thanksgiving holiday this year, we have moved it to our typical early November time slot. Tuesday, November 5 will be Election Day in the U.S. Please plan ahead and request a mail-in ballot or vote early. We look forward to seeing you this November!

A National Partnership to Advance Peer-Support Models for People Who Need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) is pleased to announce that the University Center of Excellence in Development Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), in partnership with CommunicationFIRST, has been selected as the recipient of a subaward to create a national partnership to develop an approach and plan to advance peer-support models for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users. 

Apply Today: AUCD Leadership Academy

Deadline: March 1, 2024, 5:00 PM EST
The AUCD Leadership Academy is a week-long intensive experience, paired with a year of pre and post interactions designed to enhance the skills of current and emerging leaders from disability networks to build coalitions to improve systems of supports and services. The Leadership Academy engages participants from UCEDDs, LENDs, and the wider community of disability partners to come together to immerse themselves for a week of study, shared experiences, self-evaluation, and skill development.

Register Today: The Disability Policy Seminar
The Disability Policy Seminar is an annual federal legislative conference co-sponsored by The Arc, Autism Society, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, United Cerebral Palsy, and Self Advocates Becoming Empowered. The Disability Policy Seminar strengthens our federal advocacy efforts by providing training, learning opportunities, and updates, and opportunities to visit their Members of Congress.

Dr. Marcia Montague selected as the 2023-2024 Provost Academic Professional Track (APT) Faculty Teaching Excellence Awardee
Established in 2019 with a gift from the Marie M. and James H. Galloway Foundation, the Provost Academic Professional Track (APT) Faculty Teaching Excellence Award encourages, recognizes and rewards faculty recipients for exceptional teaching practices that create meaningful learning experiences for students.

Indiana LEND's Dr. McNally Keehn awarded the Rising Trailblazer Award
Indiana LEND's Rebecca McNally Keehn, PhD was the winner of the Indiana University School of Medicine's 2023 Rising Trailblazer Award. The award recognizes outstanding early career faculty who are emerging trailblazers in the Department of Pediatrics.

RISE To The Top!! USM Program Earns Comprehensive Transition Program (CTP) Status
The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) RISE To The Top! inclusive postsecondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities has reached a momentous milestone by receiving status as a Comprehensive Transition Program (CTP). 

Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute Celebrates 40 Years as Michigan's UCEDD
Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute
(MI-DDI) recently celebrated 40 years as Michigan's UCEDD. To commemorate this achievement, the institute created a short film documenting it's past, present, and future.

University of Massachusetts Boston Institute for Community Inclusion Partners with the International Disability Alliance and the African Disability Forum on International Fellowship Program
The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston, in collaboration with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the African Disability Forum (ADF), has been awarded a grant from the US Department of State to launch the third round (FY 2023) of the Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Civic Engagement.

Researchers Find Possible Neuromarker for 'Juvenile-onset' Batten Disease
New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center, an AUCD IDDRC, suggests an easy-to-measure brain process may be a target or biomarker in measuring treatment outcomes in clinical trials for patients with Batten disease.

2023-2024 Jean S. Garvin Research Fellows Announced
The UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion (CDCI) and the UVM College of Education and Social Services (CESS) are pleased to announce six new Jean S. Garvin Research Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year. This year's fellows are planning to research a wide range of topics pertaining to the lives of students and young adolescents with disabilities in Vermont. 

Missouri's UCEDD Develops "After Abuse: Resources for Missourians with Disabilities"
The University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Human Development, the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities for the state of Missouri, in cooperation with the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council, has published a new online resource called After Abuse: Resources for Missourians with Disabilities to help people with disabilities learn about abuse and what happens when it is reported.

ICI, UM Extension Partner For 4-H Youth
The MN UCEDD has created accommodation kits containing tools to better accommodate Minnesota 4-H members with and without disabilities. The training also shared tips about more fully including youth with disabilities

Five-year Grant to Support KU Project's Goal to Make Disability Data Accessible and Inclusive for Broad Audiences
Numbers alone can’t tell a story. That’s the foundation of a project now based at the University of Kansas that takes volumes of raw federal and state expenditure data and distills that information for everyone—including policymakers, service providers and individuals with developmental disabilities and their families—to help them make the most informed decisions.

3rd Round of the ProFellows Program on Inclusive Civic Engagement Launched
ProFellows Derrick Willis, AUCD's President and Director of the University of Iowa’s Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD), and Bakar Hamad, Executive Director of the Organization of Women with Disabilities in Zanzibar (JUWAUZA), joined esteemed dignitaries to celebrate 15 years of JUWAUZA's dedicated service to women with disabilities in Zanzibar! Dignitaries included the second Vice President of Zanzibar, the Hon. Hemed Suleiman Abdulla.

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Receives DOD Grant to Study Telehealth Deployment Across Rural Areas of Tennessee
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) has received a $3.1 million grant from the Department of Defense (DOD) to study telehealth deployment across rural areas of Tennessee. The grant builds on a recent study that showed autism profiles can be identified early with the TELE-ASD-PEDS (TAP) tele-assessment tool created by the VKC and Monroe Carrell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s Division of Developmental Medicine.

UCEDD Co-Director Visits White House for NYS Communities in Acton
Einstein and Montefiore Health System’s, Karen Bonuck, PhD, recently joined community leaders and elected officials at The White House’s Communities in Action: Building a Better New York event. Dr. Bonuck discussed the healthcare access issues faced by people with disabilities and why Long COVID is a mass disabling event.

Intern Perspectives: Reflections on OHSU UCEDD's Summer Internship Program Shaping Disability Advocacy
Each summer, the OHSU University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) offers internship opportunities to high school or early college students interested in pursuing a career in health care, with an emphasis on disability. It is a delight to watch these students progress and grow during the 8-week program which places students in different centers, clinic groups, and research labs across the Institute on Development and Disability. 

Student Spotlight - Blake Jackson
Meet Blake Jackson, a resilient second-year student in the Direct Support Professional - General (DSP-G) track. As a proud member of the PATHS class 2024 in the fightin' Texas Aggie community, Blake is enrolled in the Postsecondary Access and Training in Human Services (PATHS) Program, where he finds inspiration in Andrey Hepburn's timeless words: "Nothing is impossible, the Word itself says 'I'm possible!'"

PATHS Graduate Highlight: Averie Lane Class of 2019
Since 2019, PATHS graduate, Averie Lane, has been very busy! Upon graduation, Averie has completely immersed herself in caring for children both at the daycare where she works and as a traveling nanny. Averie now has her own babysitting business that has really taken off. The word has spread throughout the community about the amazing level of care that she provides for each child that she is responsible for.

IACC Seeking Public Comments on
Co-Occuring Conditions in Autism

Deadline: February 14, 2024
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is requesting public comments on the impact of these co-occurring conditions, as well as research, services, and policy needs that may be helpful to consider in addressing issues related to these conditions. 

Amplifying Voices of Disability
Thursday, February 22, 2024, Zoom

The Institute For Human Development invites you to join them for a special virtual event: 'Amplifying Voices of Disability.'  A new virtual Day of Learning focused on timely, hot-button issues presented by disability activists & self-advocates! 

2024 Annual Disability Statistics Conference
March 28, 2024, Washington, DC and Hybrid

The Center for Research on Disability will be releasing the Annual Disability Statistics Collection, which fills critical gaps in national, state, and historic data related to people with disabilities by synthesizing complex data from numerous U.S. federal agencies into accessible formats. 

9th International Research Conference on Adolescents and Adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
April 11-14, 2024, Hyatt Regency, Seattle, WA

Come together with the network of advocates, families, and professionals to explore how CtLC weaves together personal growth, community engagement, policy advancements, and technological innovations to promote self-determination and good lives for all.