AUCD Board Update: Interim Executive Director Transition and Organizational Priorities

After 15 months of steady leadership, Interim Executive Director Sandy Root Elledge will transition to a part-time consulting role on April 16, 2026. The Board is grateful for Sandy’s leadership and service during this important period. The Board has full confidence in AUCD’s senior leadership team, Troy Washington, Chief Financial and Operating Officer and Elizabeth Cleveland, Interim Associate Director, to maintain strong operations and organizational continuity. Looking ahead, the Board will focus on three key priorities: recruiting a new Executive Director, sustaining a strong federal policy and advocacy presence, and preparing for a successful AUCD 2026 Conference in November, all while advancing AUCD’s mission. We are confident in the organization’s direction and in the collective strength of the AUCD Network. Thank you for your continued partnership and support.

AUCD Policy Talk: The Carrot or the Stick? How AI Policy Could Redefine Digital Equity for the Disability Community

Artificial intelligence is reshaping assistive technology, offering new opportunities for independence while raising concerns about bias and inequity. Julie Eshleman, LEND Fellow at Georgia State University, examines the AI Civil Rights Act of 2025, which would require algorithm audits, ensure human review of automated decisions, and provide legal recourse for discrimination, helping to protect the disability community as AI becomes more widespread.

We’re Here: Then, Now, Always – Celebrating Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month 2026

This March, AUCD was proud to celebrate Developmental Disabilities Month with the launch of the We’re Here: Then, Now, Always campaign. The national campaign recognized a simple truth: people with developmental disabilities have always been part of our communities — and always would be.

Celebrating Dr. Philip Wilson's Retirement

After more than 26 years of leadership, service, and unwavering commitment to people with disabilities and their families, Human Development Center (HDC) Director Philip Wilson, PhD officially retired on March 1, 2026.

Congratulations to the New PFP Outbound Awardees

The Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Civic Engagement at UMass Boston congratulates U.S. host mentors Dr. Izel S. Obermeyer, Dr. Jasper A. Estabillo, Dr. Jessie Green, Dr. Jacy Farkas, and Dr. Evan Borisinkoff. They will travel to East Africa to support Fellows advancing disability inclusion in their communities.

IDRPP ECHO Network Takes On Substance Use, Stigma

Now in its third year of operation, The Time To Act ECHO: Substance Abuse network has engaged service providers in 25 Utah counties. The network also extended to participants in 19 other states. Its work is one more step in holding critical conversations around substance use disorder (SUD) in areas that need it the most.

ICI Report: Spina Bifida

A team of ICI researchers has provided the first-ever U.S. data on the prevalence of spina bifida across the lifespan, critical information for public health agencies, policymakers, and others as longevity among people with the condition increases

TeleOutreach Connects Rural, Military Families

Rural families concerned about their children's developmental milestones often wait years to access behavioral specialists and developmental pediatricians. Maintaining relationships with specialists is also difficult, particularly for military-connected youth and their families, who are often highly mobile. Pediatric specialists from the TeleOutreach Hub help fill the gap.

A New Vanderbilt Kennedy Center TRIAD Cross System Pilot Expands Support for Tennessee’s Most Vulnerable Youth

A new pilot project now being implemented through TRIAD, the autism institute at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC)(TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND), represents an important step toward closing long-standing gaps in how Tennessee serves its most vulnerable youth. For over 25 years, TRIAD has worked closely with the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) to support educators serving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in schools, including those students with IDD engaging in complex and dangerous behavior.

New Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Adult Tele-diagnostic Project Creating an Assessment with Help of Autistic People

Adults who are seeking an evaluation for autism may face a number of barriers. Those barriers may include finding experienced clinicians who can appropriately evaluate older adolescents and adults and those clinicians having a reliable measure to make a diagnosis. A new project, led by Zachary Warren, Ph.D., executive director for TRIAD, the autism institute at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND), is aimed at addressing the barriers adults find when seeking an evaluation for autism.

Where Aggies ACHIEVE Together: Celebrating a Student’s Role in Musical Theatre

This month, Grace Coltharp is being recognized for her creativity, passion, and dedication, which have earned her a key role in the Texas A&M Aggie Musical Theatre Club’s upcoming production of Anastasia. After applying for the creative team, she was selected as the Assistant Choreographer, a position that beautifully blends her love of dance with her desire to contribute meaningfully to the performing arts community on campus.

Where Aggies ACHIEVE Together: Celebrating a Student’s Role in Musical Theatre

Aggie ACHIEVEMates is proud to welcome one of its newest student leaders, Jacob Staleski, who recently stepped into the role of Outreach Officer. When he learned he had been selected last Wednesday, he was over the moon. “I was so excited to find out I became an Outreach Officer for Aggie ACHIEVEMates,” he shared, already eager to assist with major events like The Big Event and Sing for a Ring.

ArizonaLEND Alumna Georgina Georgelos, MEd Named 2026 Arizona Mother of the Year

Congratulations to Georgina Georgelos, M.Ed., an ArizonaLEND Family Alumna, for winning 2026 Arizona Mother of the Year! What an incredible achievement for someone so deserving. Georgina, a retired classroom teacher with over 32 years of experience, now homeschools her son Mateo, who has multiple disabilities. She brings the same creativity, flexibility, and child-centered philosophy to their home that shaped her decades in the classroom.

Family Experience Inspires LEND Sisters

Having a sibling with a disability often inspires a family member’s career path. This is just the case for two sisters we're spotlighting this month. Sarah Chevrefils (NH LEND 2014) and Emily Bourque (NH LEND 2017) both chose occupational therapy as their profession and both undeniably attribute the course of their life’s work to their younger sister, Katie Bourque. 

Widening the Disability Lens

Quinn Oteman (MN LEND 2020-21) is a child welfare researcher at the U of M Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, where he evaluates agencies such as the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery and gathers feedback from families receiving services.

Partners-DS: Program to Advance Research and Transdisciplinary Training in the Care of Persons with Down Syndrome

Application deadline for participation: March 31, 2026
Faculty from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Mailman Center for Child Development are offering a short course in Down syndrome clinical research (PARTNERS-DS: Program to Advance Research and Transdisciplinary TraiNing in the CarE of PeRsons with Down syndrome) to be held in Philadelphia, September 27-October 2, 2026. The course is funded by a R25 grant from NICHD and is intended for early career investigators passionate about improving the lives of people with Down syndrome, and will include sessions on clinical care, ethical, legal and social issues, practical applications, and data management and analysis strategies.

Call for Abstracts 18th Annual Health Care Transition Research Symposium

Due Date: Sunday May 17, 2026, 11:59 PM PT
The International and Interdisciplinary Health Care Transition Research Consortium (HCTRC) in collaboration with the 27th Annual Chronic Illness and Disability Conference, Transition from Pediatric to Adult-based Care is pleased to announce the Call for Abstracts for researchers to be presented at the 18th Annual HCTRC Research Symposium in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, October 21st, 2026.

National Leadership Innovation Summit

May 3-5, 2026, Austin, TX

The National Leadership Innovation Summit is an invitation-only convening designed to provide network leaders and invited partners dedicated time and space to step outside of their individual programs and focus on shared priorities. 

Charting the LifeCourse Showcase 2026

May 5-7, 2026, Kansas City, MO

The UMKC-Institute for Human Development’s LifeCourse Nexus is hosting the 10th Annual Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) Showcase May 5-7, 2026, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We invite you to Kansas City to celebrate the 10th Annual CtLC Showcase! Together, we will reflect on a decade of growth and impact while continuing to learn how the CtLC framework and principles drive meaningful change in people’s lives

35th Annual Aging with Developmental Disabilities Conference

May 11-12, 2026, St. Louis, MO

The 35th Annual Aging with Developmental Disabilities Conference, hosted by the Association on Aging with Developmental Disabilities, is a premier two-day event bringing together professionals, advocates, and families to explore best practices in supporting adults with developmental disabilities as they age. The conference typically features expert-led sessions on topics like Alzheimer’s, dementia, health, and advocacy, often held in-person with virtual options.