Unlearning ableism

May 18, 2022

Rebecca Dosch Brown at left and a sign language interpreter at right.

Why is disability often excluded from conversations about equity, social justice, or diversity?

A team from the Institute on Community Integration presented this and other topics at the Disability Justice Workshop Series in two separate forums this month, including one for Minnesota State, the nation’s third-largest system of state colleges and universities. The five-part series engages participants who want to create campuses and other environments that transcend the basic requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“From the beginning, our Minnesota State liaison agreed that to really understand disability justice you don’t just focus on the details of the ADA,” said Rebecca Dosch Brown (pictured at left), interdisciplinary education director at ICI, who created and led the event after receiving several requests from colleagues who had listened to her speak about ableism in other forums. “The ADA is critical, but it is not going to change people’s minds about seeing people with disabilities as less than.”

Her team first presented the series at Minnesota State, then adapted it for a second workshop for the University of Minnesota’s Global Programs and Strategy Alliance. The series covers disability history, ableism, the intersection of racial and disability justice, practical tools for talking about disability, and creating action steps for building inclusive classrooms, campuses, and communities.

“The series was a wonderful opportunity for our community members to collaboratively explore and address systemic oppression that still impacts disability justice efforts,” said Brock Behling, program director for instructional technology at Minnesota State. “The willingness of the ICI to personalize the series’ curriculum allowed for us to meet the needs of our diverse community, but also provided an opportunity to leverage the unique talents across Minnesota State, while sharing the voices and lived experiences of those who participated.”

He said more than 625 individuals attended the virtual event, and more were expected to download the recorded version.

“We are at a point now in the evolution of disability justice where we can move past the basics and get to a place where we are creating truly inclusive organizations,” said Katrina Simons, a community program specialist at ICI who helped Dosch Brown create and present the series. “It was really exciting to see participants keep coming back week after week to participate in these discussions.”

Contributors also included Jana Ferguson, a project coordinator for ICI’s Check & Connect program for school dropout prevention, who provides training to school districts nationwide.

“Even before we asked for participants’ comments, they were responding during the presentations about how meaningful the sessions were and several commented that they hadn’t thought about disability in this way before,” Ferguson said.

Muna Khalif, an ICI program specialist who works in the TeleOutreach Center at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, also facilitated the event and contributed to Dosch Brown’s curriculum development.

“Combining our team’s expertise in positive behavior supports and health equity with Paul Gorski’s work on racial equity detours helped us create a series that acknowledges both racism and its intersection with disability in substantive ways,” Khalif said. “These detours, such as slowing down diversity initiatives to make a group more comfortable, derail progress and harm those most affected by racism and ableism.”

In feedback from participants, one attendee said the session “provided further proof that we don’t see every disability and that students may not feel comfortable disclosing that they have a disability. Therefore, we need to make these efforts in every class.”

To learn more about bringing the programming to your organization, contact Dosch Brown at dosch018@umn.edu.

ICI expands workforce consulting service

November 17, 2021

Amy Hewitt and John Smith. — ICI Director Amy Hewitt and colleague John Smith.

Responding to dire shortages in staff supporting people with disabilities, the Institute on Community Integration has expanded its national workforce consulting work, leveraging its longstanding position as a key thought leader in the disability field.

Direct Support Workforce Solutions, led by ICI Director Amy Hewitt, will combine organizational analysis and in-depth training for direct support professionals (DSPs) into a comprehensive strategy to help organizations recruit, train, and keep their best direct support professionals, supervisors, and agency leaders.

“As states allocate federal emergency funds to address the staffing crisis that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, this offering represents an investment in the agency workforce that goes deeper than temporary solutions,” said Hewitt. “ICI has been conducting research, developing tools, and refining a data-driven consulting process for more than three decades. Direct Support Workforce Solutions brings our research, development and consulting expertise together to meet the needs of state agencies and individual organizations as they struggle to meet demand for long term services and supports and create effective policies and practices regarding the direct support workforce.”

ICI’s Barb Kleist and Kristin Dean will lead the operations of Direct Support Workforce Solutions, and Kleist serves as a lead consultant for the group, along with more than a dozen experts in disability policy and workforce development.

“We bring evidence-based practices and craft solutions that help organizations build stronger workforce strategies to address recruitment and retention,” Kleist said. “This effort brings our decades of experiences, resources, and tools into a single, accessible space.” Consulting services begins with a rigorous discovery process to gather data on an organization’s workforce, from hiring and retention policies and practices to overall workforce culture.

Conducting surveys, self-assessments, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, document reviews, and a communications audit, the team then analyzes the findings and develops an action plan. Data management, recruitment, retention, and policy strategies are then implemented in a framework unique to each organization’s capacity. Targeted services include consulting and coaching sessions, options for new products such as realistic job previews and public service announcements, a customized recruiting plan, employee training and development, and more.

Already at crisis levels, turnover and vacancy rates worsened when the pandemic began and remain in emergency status. Early in 2020, the Institute quickly partnered with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals to initiate the largest-ever survey of the direct support workforce as it navigated the global pandemic. That report, and subsequent follow-up reports, documented increases in already-high turnover rates, job stress, and risk that DSPs have taken on during this emergency, raising public awareness about the necessity of these professionals and advocating for higher wages and other benefits.

Almost half of DSPs leave their jobs within the first year, and most within the first six months. Vacancy rates remain high, and demand for services is growing fast, particularly as more people with disabilities move from congregate care facilities to community-based service options. Staff shortages affect the quality and availability of essential services for individuals with disabilities, and greatly determine whether those individuals will participate fully in their communities.

Amidst these dire national trends, ICI has a long track record of expertise in assisting people with disabilities and their families find and retain quality DSPs, and in elevating the skills and professionalism in the field as it evolves. Across nearly every U.S. state and several regions abroad, the Institute has provided technical assistance, training, evaluation, and consultation to government agencies and provider organizations. ICI researchers have authored and edited hundreds of publications, including textbooks, reports, magazines, briefs, and newsletters.

More than 90 peer-reviewed journal articles have been published since 2012, and DirectCourse, the premiere online training curriculum for direct support workforce developed by ICI with partner Elsevier, has trained millions of DSPs, improving the quality and stability of supports for people with disabilities.

ICI also has produced award-winning films bringing attention to the underappreciated and underfunded work of DSPs. Among them are Invaluable: The Unrecognized Profession of Direct Support, Direct Support: A Realistic Job Preview, and Higher Ground: The Dedication of Direct Support Professionals During and After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Frontline Initiative, a newsletter covering issues important to DSPs and their supervisors, is produced by ICI and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, a longtime partner.

“They have, over decades, provided the tools for advocacy and change that result in measurable solutions,” NADSP President Joe Macbeth said of ICI’s team. “Using their research-based methods, ICI supports organizations in developing effective strategies that address long-standing workforce challenges.”

To learn more, visit Direct Support Workforce Solutions at dsworkforcesolutions.com.

Families love self-direction, but what lies ahead?

November 17, 2021

People with disabilities and their families feel empowered by public programs allowing them to direct their own service dollars, but the complexities of the programs can be daunting and succession planning is critical.

In the first known study to explore the sustainability of self-directed public services across major life transitions, the Institute on Community Integration and Independent Support Services, Inc., Monticello, New York, surveyed 413 people, most of whom identified themselves as a “natural support,” or someone providing unpaid support to a person with disabilities who directs his or her public services.

“We’ve known satisfaction levels with self-direction is strong, but until now we didn’t have this kind of data to show policymakers. Now, we have the data,” said Alan Kulchinsky, founder of ISS.

The report, 2020 Evaluation of Experiences with Self Direction in New York State: A Focus on Sustainability, found that more than 90 percent of respondents listed a better quality of life, feeling empowered, and having flexible services that meet their specific needs as key benefits of self-direction.

“Who doesn’t like choice?” said Shari Serchuk, of Jericho, New York, pictured with her son, Ryan, who is autistic. Self-directed services allow Ryan, 26, and Shari, his representative, to choose the types of public services he needs and to hire and train his support staff, within certain guidelines. It’s an alternative to traditional agency-provided services, and its use is growing.

“We wouldn’t have the same quality of life” without the choice and control self-direction gives them, Shari said.

Just because it was an easy decision, however, doesn’t make it simple. Recordkeeping duties and dealing with staff issues that an agency in a typical arrangement would handle takes a big outlay of time for the support person, such as a parent. In the study, respondents cited paperwork, staffing, and adapting to changes in service rules as top challenges.

Beyond the immediate challenges, respondents also expressed concerns about passing their responsibilities on when they die or are otherwise no longer able to manage their roles. About 40 percent of respondents said siblings would not be available to provide supports.

“There was a lot of fear and uncertainty about the future, but also a lot of hope that things will work out even if we can’t see the solution today,” said Libby Hallas, co-director of the study and an ICI project coordinator.

Ryan and Shari are both understandably anxious about the longer-term future, but said their strong family bonds give them confidence.

“It would be a difficult adjustment to get used to, but I get along well with my family and they understand my needs,” Ryan said.

Some support people said they are already building a team approach to succession, creating a network of paid and unpaid support people to handle what used to be one parent’s role.

Shane Winkler, a self-direction coordinator for ISS, helps bridge some of the gaps for people with disabilities who no longer have parents supporting them. He and Kulchinsky are working to expand the duties, and corresponding hourly rates, of these professionals. They also point to the need for better housing options that can bring the principles of self-direction to a bigger swath of the population.

“Self-directed services have become a key component of the disability services landscape and represent both a cost-effective and an important component of maintaining an individual’s self-determination,” said Jennifer Hall-Lande, co-director of the study and an ICI researcher. “As the population ages, we must find ways to sustain these services across life transitions and the lifespan.”

One of Ryan’s sisters has indicated she would like to help, but Shari says it’s hard for anyone to understand the level of commitment required to replace a parent. Shari stayed at home when Ryan was in school, and is only now working part time.

“Whenever you think you have everything in place, things happen. Someone calls in sick or they can’t drive today. There always has to be a backup.”

“Impact” launches arts issue

September 17, 2021

This issue of *Impact* from the Institute on Community Integration focuses on art careers for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities.

The work of nearly three dozen professional artists with disabilities is highlighted in the new issue of Impact, a print and digital publication of the Institute on Community Integration.

Articles by Leroy Moore, founder of Krip-Hop Nation, and William Britt, a visual artist who spent more than 30 years institutionalized at Willowbrook State School, accompany scholarly articles assessing the progress toward inclusion in the professional arts for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities. Visual and performing artists at all stages of their careers and leading programs working to helping artists develop their professional careers also are featured.

The issue launches at a time when major film and television studios are making public vows to increase diversity in front of and behind the camera. It also comes as day programs for artists with disabilities face changes to their public funding, and as recognition grows that the number of professional artists with disabilities working today is simply too low.

“This issue showcases the complex nature of artistic careers and the seriousness of artists who have traditionally been cast aside,” said Nik Fernholz, program manager for ICI’s Art for All, who served as an issue editor. “It bridges a gap between these artists and the greater arts community, defining an inclusive space for artists at all stages of their careers.”

A talent studio founder in Los Angeles takes readers behind the scenes as he coaches actors with disabilities in their television and film work, including roles in The Good Doctor, Born This Way, and Glee.

And Jeanne Calvit shares the story of how she started Saint Paul’s Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts.

“We know that the artistic process has the power to change things, to give us those ‘ah-ha’ moments that can blow your thinking wide open,” she writes.   

Other issue editors include Betty Siegel, director of the Office of Accessibility and VSA at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; Olivia Raynor, founder and director of the National Arts and Disability Center and director of the Tarjan Center, University of California, Los Angeles; and Beth Stoffmacher, an arts specialist with NADC and center coordinator for the Tarjan Center at UCLA.  

“The creative talent of artists with disabilities warrants greater visibility and recognition,” Raynor said. “There are no limits to this talent, and this issue shows the progress that is being made in representation and recognition for artistic excellence. It also points out the need for more education and training opportunities for people with disabilities to develop and succeed in professional careers in the arts.”  

Other artists and programs featured in the issue include Jimmy Reagan, the Saint Paul painter whose work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe; Jeremy Sicile-Kira, a San Diego-based painter with autism who experiences synesthesia, allowing him to perceive people and their emotions as color; and Mind the Gap, England’s largest theater company working with performers with autism or learning disabilities.

Siegel said advising the feature issue reminded her that access to the arts connects us with one another, and makes us fully human.  

“Art allows us to communicate our feelings and fears, our desires and dreams,” she said. “In this odd year of social reckoning and pandemic, climate change, and political change, working on this issue of Impact gave me a sense of purpose and it reminded me of the words of President John F. Kennedy, engraved on the walls of the Kennedy Center:

‘I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.‘”

Crisis upon crisis: New Impact issue has launched

May 17, 2021

Exclusive research data on COVID-19 mortality rates among people with disabilities, insight from leaders in the disability field on the effect of multiple crises, and practical tips on maintaining education and well-being in the face of disaster are all available now in the just-launched issue of Impact.

“The last year has tested us in previously unimagined ways,” said Laura Stough, a professor of educational psychology and assistant director of the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University. “This edition provides unique perspectives about people with disabilities experiencing emergencies and crises and represents remarkable additions to the disability literature.”

Stough served as an issue editor for the Impact Special Issue on Crisis Management for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, along with Mary Sowers, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, and Renáta Tichá, co-director of the Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education at the Institute on Community Integration. Impact is published by ICI and the Research and Training Center on Community Living and Employment, in part under grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Each issue is dedicated to a topic of importance to the disability community. This issue’s editors also wrote a feature article on the inequities people with disabilities face during and in the aftermath of disasters and crises, from the pandemic to natural disasters to social unrest.

Other articles include new research on the COVID-19 case-fatality rate for people with IDD, written by Margaret A. Turk, a professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Scott Landes, associate professor at Syracuse University. Longtime disability community leader Kim Keprios contributes a deeply personal story about the death of her brother Mike during the pandemic. Inclusion International’s Sue Swenson contributes an introduction to a series of articles about the lessons learned from historical disasters. Georgetown University’s Tawara Goode delves into the intersection of disability, race, and ethnicity during the pandemic. Authors in the field of special education write about distance learning during the pandemic, and a group of nurses who specialize in caring for patients with disabilities share their personal frustrations with the medical community’s response to the pandemic. Several self-advocates offer their own stories of living through crises, among other articles.

“The voices of the disability community are diverse, and yet reveal interrelated experiences. The contributions in this edition provide a multi-layered and intersectional portrait,” Stough said.

“My hope is that we borrow from the learnings represented in this edition to further strengthen the disability community, and find new methods of providing inclusive and accessible services in emergency and crisis management.”

COVID-19 transitions: MRCI embraces change

January 19, 2021

Colleagues using digital tablet and working in industry.

When the pandemic forced day-service and employment providers to close abruptly in March, it decimated budgets and ripped away vital services for people with disabilities.

As restrictions on public life loosen a bit this month, however, some of those providers are staking their futures on reopening under a dramatically different service model—one that will take a village to succeed.

Mankato-based MRCI, one of Minnesota’s largest providers, shuttered most of its seven facilities and cut its workforce from 450 employees to about 100, said Brian Benshoof, chief executive officer.

From those ashes, however, the organization is hatching a plan to provide nearly all of its services in the community, with the aim of more fully integrating people with disabilities into jobs and social situations.

“After everything closed, we got the organization stabilized financially and it became clear that we had a golden opportunity to rebuild the whole organization,” said Benshoof, who said the organization is now back up to about 150 employees. “We already had a five-year transition plan to move to community-based services, so the philosophy became, ‘Let’s just do it now.’”

It was an exciting idea, but not without several challenges. Among them: convincing some families of people with disabilities that the move would ultimately enhance their loved ones’ lives, and convincing community businesses and public spaces to embrace the idea.

“We’ve done a lot of communicating with the Department of Human Services, agencies, and families to share this new direction,” said Tina Stofferahn, MRCI’s director of day services. “Some families are very concerned about this because their loved ones have been protected and safe in facility-based programs. We’re explaining there is dignity in taking risks, and great personal value and confidence building when you become an active member of a community.”

Those risks presented another challenge, Stofferahn said. Existing staff would have to be retrained in new job duties that focus on teaching new social, life, and employment skills, and community businesses and other organizations would have to open their doors to the idea.

Partnering with the Institute on Community Integration, MRCI has taken that first step. ICI provided training, videos, and other materials for MRCI workers in how to find and structure activities that match participants’ interests, and in helping participants build relationships in their communities.

“We’ve helped create the training MRCI envisioned to assist them in this significant transformation,” said Danielle Mahoehney, an education programs specialist at ICI. “It’s exciting to think about how this shift will expand what’s possible in the lives of people with disabilities.”

Now, MRCI is reaching out to businesses, libraries, community groups, and personal networks to develop meaningful experiences. Its staff will plan daily activities for groups of four people with disabilities and an employee, and each group will travel in small minivans rather than large buses. Anyone interested in welcoming groups into their offices or events can get in touch with Stofferahn at kstofferahn@mymrci.org

“It will be a completely person-centered service,” Stofferahn said. “A specialist will pick up four people each morning and the groups will make their own plans based on their interests. It might be learning some skills in an employment setting, or learning how to camp, or just basic relationship-building experiences and safety issues. In a facility, you don’t have that ability to learn skills in a natural environment. We now have the staff trained and the vehicles ready to go; we just need the community to open.”

Opening the steeple: Race, disability, and faith

January 19, 2021

Lead pastor Lamar Hardwick, who has autism, speaking to his congregation at Tri Cities Church in East Point, Georgia.

Amid the outrage over the killing of George Floyd and others at the hands of police, discussions about racism – and to some extent its intersectionality with ableism – has filled talk shows, articles, and public debates. But where is the church?

A new discussion series sponsored by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities aims to find out. The webinar series, “Black Lives with IDD and Their Faith Communities: A discussion of the role of church communities in the lives of black and brown people with IDD and their families,” concludes at 2 p.m. Central time on Feb. 2. Register here.

The series was sponsored by AAIDD’s Religion and Spirituality Interest Network and co-sponsored by the Institute on Community Integration.

Lamar Hardwick, lead pastor at Tri Cities Church in East Point, Georgia, and author of the forthcoming book Disability and The Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion, is among the webinar speakers.

“It’s difficult to have a real conversation about racial and ethnic diversity unless you talk about the largest minority group that exists, which is people with disabilities,” said Hardwick, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of 36. “We know it’s right to say our doors are open to everyone, but we haven’t asked people who aren’t attending church what inclusion looks like to them.”

ICI’s Sarah Hall, currently serving as president of the AAIDD interest network, said organizers were moved by the death of Floyd to pose blunt questions and spur real change in religious organizations.

Herself a sibling of someone with multiple disabilities, Hall shared that her family had to change its church affiliation when her brother was asked not to return to Sunday school.

“We hope this webinar starts a conversation, and that people come away with ideas to try, knowing that they aren’t in this alone,” said Hall.

Deborah Fisher, of Strategic Change Consulting in Washington, D.C., and a member of the AAIDD committee, was the lead organizer of the series.

Other speakers in the series include LaTonya Penny, senior pastor of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Roxboro, North Carolina, and Luchara Wallace, director of the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations at Western Michigan University. All three speakers will lead a discussion about next steps at the concluding session on Feb. 2. Previous sessions can be viewed here.

To Hardwick, the most important step will be to train future religious leaders in inclusion.

“Nothing happens in a church that’s not important to the pastor,” said Hardwick. “I’d love to see disability inclusion be a part of the core curriculum that pastors are required to take. It should be at the heart of how we are training our leaders. Otherwise, we’ll keep spinning our wheels.”

New Impact: Self-advocacy is alive and well

October 27, 2020

The year 2020 has been a lightning rod for people with disabilities who advocate for themselves and others to design and live their own lives.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, many protested healthcare rationing decisions that threatened to put them at the back of the line. Others spoke out when they lost critical services from direct support professionals or feared for their lives in congregate care settings. When George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis sparked global calls for fundamentally reexamining systemic racism, people who live with disabilities renewed the conversation about the intersectionality of racism and ableism.

Against that backdrop, the latest issue of Impact examines the Self-Advocacy Movement, its history, and the role it plays today. Articles explore the current issues self-advocates are fighting for, the debate over the term ‘self-advocacy’ itself, ways to get started as a self-advocate, and the personal stories and programs shaping the Movement today.

“We are at a critical time for the country and for the Movement,” said Teresa Moore, a guest editor for this issue of Impact. She is director of the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center, a project of Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE). “People want to know SABE’s position on using the term self-advocate or advocate in the work they are doing, among other topics. This issue of Impact is going to set the pace for quite a long time and will help self-advocates and their groups work on what is important to them.”

Moore and three other self-advocates served as guest editors for the publication, which is produced by the Institute on Community Integration and the Research and Training Center on Community Living and Employment under grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.

“This issue is important because our Movement, for and by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is alive and well, but it needs more attention. We are not getting the recognition that we deserve in the broader disability world,” said Max Barrows, an Impact guest editor and outreach director for Green Mountain Self-Advocates in Montpelier, Vermont. Barrows hosted several online discussions with dozens of self-advocates for an article highlighting today’s most pressing issues. “If you are new to our Movement, this issue is a great way to begin your relationship with self-advocacy.”

Mike Rogers, regional organizer for the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State, served as an editor and contributed to several articles, including an interview with Samuel R. Mattle, founder of the Center for Self Advocacy in Buffalo, New York.

“Creating this publication on self-advocacy is very important to me,” Rogers said. “We need to expose people without disabilities to the power of the Self-Advocacy Movement and our ability to impact the world.”

New Impact focuses on direct support workforce and people with disabilities

June 28, 2018

The direct support workforce is crucial in providing daily supports to people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities in the U.S. as they live and participate in their communities. While demand for these supports has never been higher and will continue to grow, significant challenges exist in finding, keeping, and training Direct Support Professionals. The new Impact: Feature Issue on the Direct Support Workforce and People with Intellectual, Developmental, and Other Disabilities (pictured) examines the workforce challenges in our long-term care system and their consequences. It presents data on the direct support workforce; shares personal stories of what is and isn’t working for those delivering and receiving supports; looks at creative, bold actions being taken around the country to address workforce issues; and explores ways to ensure that quality supports are there for people with disabilities and their families in all our communities.

Impact is published by the Institute on Community Integration, and the Research and Training Center on Community Living, within the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.

AUCD features MNLEND story about sensory tents in Minneapolis parks

May 16, 2018

Sarah Thorson (left), Erica Chua (center), and Elise Niedermeier (right), all from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Niedermeier is a MNLEND Fellow.

The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) website featured MNLEND Fellow Elise Niedermeier‘s collaboration with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to bring sensory tents to the Minneapolis parks this summer. Sensory tents can help people, such as children with autism, cope with sensory overload. The article is titled, “MNLEND Fellow Leads Creation of Sensory Tents in the Minneapolis Parks.”

AUCD is a membership organization that supports and promotes a national network of university-based interdisciplinary programs; ICI is a member of this organization. The Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MNLEND) Program is an ICI center.

Institute on Community Integration welcomes visit by Russian partners on Peer-to-Peer Project

January 18, 2018

Anna Chistokhina (left) and Zoya Berdnikova (center) from the Social Innovation Fund in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, traveled to ICI in January for a scouting trip as part of the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Project, a collaborative project with ICI’s Global Resource Center on Inclusive Education (GRC). The project, funded by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, is developing systems to support the community inclusion and employment of young adults with disabilities.

Chistokhina and Berdinkova, along with GRC co-directors Renáta Tichá (far right) and Brian Abery, visited sites focused on transition from secondary school to community living and employment by young adults with disabilities, and discussed similarities and differences between service and support approaches in the U.S. and the Russian Federation. Among the sites were the Success Beyond program in St. Paul (pictured), Lionsgate Academy, and The Arc of Minnesota; they also shadowed professionals who support young adults with disabilities in community-based settings. This was part of the preparation and planning for a larger Russian delegation coming to ICI in April.

The Peer-to-Peer project is a continuation of a long-standing partnership between Krasnoyarsk State University and ICI. “What I really enjoy about this continued collaboration between Krasnoyarsk and Minnesota is how sincere and dedicated our Russian partners are to making a difference in the lives of children and young adults with disabilities back home,” says Tichá.

ICI promoting community inclusion for young Russians and Americans with disabilities

October 19, 2017

Renáta Tichá and Brian Abery in Moscow in 2015.

On October 1, the College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) received a one-year, $100,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to create virtual and in-person platforms for dialogues between professionals and parents who support young Russians and Americans with disabilities. The goal is to develop opportunities and strategies for inclusive community living and employment (independent or semi-independent housing and community participation) for young adults with disabilities in both countries. Specifically, the grant will support 16- to 21-year-olds in the Twin Cities and in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Known as the U.S.–Russia Peer-to-Peer Project: Developing Systems to Support the Employment and Community Inclusion of Young Adults with Disabilities, the collaboration will include electronic exchanges on inclusive community living and employment. There will be dual person-to-person exchanges between Russia and the U.S. (including conferences in each country) and dialogues about how culture affects community inclusion in both countries. The exchanges will feature seven adults in each country, including professionals, family members, and at least one person with a disability representing each country. The project will form learning communities to serve as resources for successful transition approaches and strategies, author a guide outlining key practical steps for inclusive employment and community living, and create online modules in these areas available in both countries.

The Russian collaborator on the project is the Social Innovation Fund in Krasnoyarsk. Project director Renáta Tichá and colleague Brian Abery (pictured together in Moscow in 2015) have worked on various projects with people in Krasnoyarsk, including staff from Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, and look forward to expanding those relationships. “This project is an important continuation of our work with professionals in Krasnoyarsk who support children and youth with disabilities. This new opportunity provides a venue for collaboration with our colleagues on transition issues for young adults with disabilities from school to community,” says Tichá. U.S.–Russia Peer-to-Peer is a project of ICI’s Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education, of which Tichá is also director.

NCEO receives $10 million to establish new center to support inclusive practices for students with significant cognitive disabilities

September 18, 2017

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the college’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) has been awarded a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs to establish a National Technical Assistance Center on Inclusive Practices and Policies. The new center will be called The TIES Center: Increasing Time, Instructional Effectiveness, Engagement, and State Support for Inclusive Practices for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. Sheryl Lazarus will be the principal investigator and Kristin Liu the co-principal investigator.

The purpose of the TIES Center is to create sustainable changes in school and district educational systems so that students with significant cognitive disabilities can fully engage in the same instructional and non-instructional activities as their general education peers while being instructed in a way that meets individual learning needs.

The TIES Center will be funded for five years, $2 million per year. Subcontractors for the TIES Center identified by NCEO are University of North Carolina Charlotte, University of North Carolina Greensboro, University of Cincinnati, CAST, University of Kentucky and the Arizona Department of Education.

“This is wonderful opportunity for NCEO and its partners to do important and exciting work on the inclusion of students with significant cognitive disabilities,” says Lazarus. Future project activities will support increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

What the TIES Center Will Do

The primary outcome of the TIES Center is to improve the quality of instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive environments through the use of existing curriculum and instructional materials. The new center will also provide models and coaching to both general education and special education teachers to create more inclusive opportunities. In addition the TIES Center will support changes to inclusive practices and policies within partner state and local education agencies.

The TIES Center has identified five goals to support its outcomes:

Develop professional learning communities in partner state and local education agencie
Develop coaching models for implementation of resources, inclusive practices and communicative competence.
Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing resources.
Support parents to become partners in the practice of inclusion for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Support systems change within the leadership of state and local education agencies for implementation of inclusive practices.

Established in 1990, NCEO is a federally-funded technical-assistance center that supports states and districts on issues related to inclusive assessments, particularly for students with disabilities, English learners (ELs) and ELs with disabilities.

Promoting employment for people with disabilities

July 20, 2017

ICI's Jeffrey Nurick speaking at a conference. — ICI’s Jeffrey Nurick speaking at a conference.

Employment for people with disabilities is a growing trend and researchers and staff from the College’s Institute on Community Integration are spreading the word. For example, on June 19-22, Kelly Nye-Lengerman presented four sessions at the National APSE (Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst) conference in Portland, Oregon. They were: “Full Speed Ahead: Promoting Youth Readiness for Employment and Education with PROMISE”, “How Are We Doing with Implementing Good Practice in Employment Supports?”, “Power of 5: Moving the Needle: The Words We Use Matter”, and “Bringing Employment First to Scale: State of the Science.” Meanwhile, on June 22, Jeffrey Nurick (pictured) was in Duluth as a panelist on the discussion, “Living the Dream: Employment First in Action,” at the Minnesota Age & Disabilities Odyssey conference.

Nye-Lengerman receives AUCD Young Professional Award

December 21, 2016

On December 6, Kelly Nye-Lengerman from the College’s Institute on Community Integration received the AUCD Young Professional Award during the AUCD annual conference in Washington, DC. This award is presented to professionals in the disabilities field under the age of 40 who have demonstrated dedication and commitment to people with developmental disabilities and their families through their work as a bridge between the academic sector and the community.

Judge Donovan Frank to keynote MN LEND Forum on litigation for disability rights

October 20, 2016

The Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopment and Related Disabilities Program (MN LEND) at the College’s Institute on Community Integration will present its fall forum, “Litigation: Advancing the Rights of People with Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities” in St. Paul on November 17. The keynote speaker is the Honorable Donovan W. Frank, U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota, and long-time champion for the rights of people with disabilities. He will be joined by a panel of local and national legal experts to discuss how litigation is framing and moving forward the human and civil rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities:

Greg Brooker, First Assistant U.S. Attorney
David Ferleger, Attorney with Supreme Court and federal court experience
Pamela Hoopes, Attorney, Legal Director at Minnesota Disability Law Center
Shamus O’Meara, Attorney, Managing Shareholder at O’Meara, Leer, Wagner & Kohl, P.A.
Roberta Opheim, State of Minnesota Office of the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required. “MN LEND focuses on improving access to and equity of high quality assessment, services and supports for all children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families,” says Amy Hewitt, MN LEND training director. “Litigation has always been key to transforming systems and moving forward the disability rights movement in the United States. We are so fortunate to be able to bring together such an esteemed group of professionals for our MN LEND forum.”

The forum will be on Thursday, November 17 in the Grand Hall at the TIES Event Center, 1644 Larpenteur Avenue West, St. Paul, MN 55108. The program, with a light lunch at the start, runs from 12:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m., followed by an ice cream reception.

The event will also be filmed and posted on the MN LEND website in the LEND Webinar Archive for later viewing.

ICI partners with Armenian university on new UNICEF-funded project

July 18, 2016

To promote inclusive education in Armenia, the Institute on Community Integration is building a sustainable partnership with Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU), the only university in that central Asian country that trains both general and special education personnel. Armenia is making education more inclusive, triggering a critical need in the country for training, knowledge dissemination, and technical assistance to assist with this endeavor. This has paved the way for a new ICI project called Enhancing the Inclusion of Children and Youth with Disabilities in Armenia: University of Minnesota – Armenian State Pedagogical University Partnership. The 20-month, $150,000 project is funded by UNICEF Armenia and began May 16, 2016. Renáta Tichá is principal investigator and Brian Abery is co-principal investigator.

In this project, the partnering universities will collaborate to ensure that inclusive education practices proven in the U.S. can be adapted to Armenia and their usability and feasibility further understood. The collaboration will conduct gap analysis of current needs and inclusive practices in ASPU’s education and special education coursework, introduce ASPU faculty to inclusive practices in Minnesota, and build an online learning community (Inclusion Portal). Staff from the two universities will visit each other’s countries, and ICI filmmaker Jerry Smith will produce a film for the project that documents Armenia’s progress towards inclusive education. “This project is a wonderful opportunity to share expertise and experiences of inclusive education between our two countries, and to build a strong partnership between ICI and a pedagogical university in Yerevan, Armenia,” Tichá says. The project is part of ICI’s Global Resource Center on Inclusive Education.

Hall-Lande appointed MN Act Early Ambassador

April 22, 2016

Dr. Jennifer Hall-Lande (Institute on Community Integration) has been selected as Minnesota’s 2016-18 Act Early Ambassador by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. This marks the start of her second two-year term as the Minnesota point-of-contact for the CDC’s nationwide “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” (LTSAE) program to improve early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder. “Over the past five years, Minnesota’s Act Early team has partnered with state agencies, early childhood and parent organizations, and cultural organizations from diverse communities to share the message of “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” with thousands of parents of young children,” says Dr. Hall-Lande. “We greatly appreciate this additional support to further grow our efforts in our communities across the state.” On April 18 she took the message of “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” to the “Mom Enough” Podcast, where she was interviewed by mother-daughter co-hosts Marti & Erin Erickson on the topic of “Early Identification and Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Resources That Change a Child’s Life” (listen here).

2016 MN LEND Forum addresses the neurobiology of poverty

April 4, 2016

Dr. Megan Gunnar, University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development

Researchers increasingly are aware that conditions in the first few years of a child’s life can influence their physical, emotional, and mental health throughout their lifespan. The 2016 MN LEND Forum, “The Neurobiology of Poverty – Children Living in Poverty: Neurodevelopmental and Biological Correlates,” explores what is known about the life-long effects of growing up in poverty via the perspectives of two leading researchers in the field.

Dr. Seth Pollak of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will discuss “Child Poverty and the Income-Achievement Gap: Insights from Cognitive Neuroscience” and Dr. Megan Gunnar from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development will present “Poverty, Allostatic Load and the Stress Neuraxis: A Mechanism or a Bridge Too Far?”

The live Webcast from this sold-out forum at the University of Minnesota will take place on Thursday, April 28, 12:30 – 3:00 p.m. Central Time. For more information and to register for the Webcast see http://lend.umn.edu/misc/povertyforum.asp.

The MN LEND Forum is an annual event sponsored by the Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities Program (lend.umn.edu) of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota. The interdisciplinary MN LEND training program prepares future leaders who will serve children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, other neurodevelopmental and related disabilities, and their families in healthcare, education, human services, and policy settings.

Dr. Seth Pollak, University of Wisconsin-Madison

NCEO: Working nationwide for students with disabilities and educators

January 26, 2016

Martha Thurlow, Director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO).

As President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act on December 10, Martha Thurlow was meeting with several states to ensure that students with disabilities who are English learners are appropriately identified and served. It’s this kind of careful, ground-level work that the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) has been doing for over 25 years with one goal in mind: improve the nation’s ability to educate students with disabilities and help them succeed.

While national education policy and school-level practice have evolved in recent decades, NCEO partners with states, educational associations, federal government, and others to support educational assessments and accountability systems that appropriately monitor educational results for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are English Language Learners (ELLs). As Director Martha Thurlow notes, “NCEO’s work has contributed to dramatic shifts in attention to the educational success of students with disabilities.”

This past year alone, NCEO staff have traveled the country, conducting research, training, consultations, and information-sharing on needs ranging from accommodating test-takers with disabilities to including ELLs with disabilities in assessments. Some of the center’s activities include:

Research. NCEO is conducting a half-dozen projects and research studies that collect data on the participation and performance of students with disabilities, ELLs, and ELLs with disabilities in K-12 state and district accountability assessments around the U.S. An example of this is the Alternate English Language Learning Assessment (ALTELLA) project. ALTELLA is a collaboration of five states that will apply lessons learned from the past decade of research on assessing ELLs and students with significant cognitive disabilities to develop an alternate English Language Proficiency assessment for ELLs with significant cognitive disabilities.
Training and Presentation. NCEO regularly presents its findings — and trains others how to use the results. Last April, for example, Laurene Christensen and Vitaliy Shyyan presented “Choosing Accommodations for Assessments Based on Common Core State Standards” at the Council for Exceptional Children conference in San Diego. This April, Sheryl Lazarus will co-lead a workshop on formative assessment at the Council for Exceptional Children conference in St. Louis.
Consultation. NCEO has a national network of people who assist states and other agencies as they consider assessment issues. This is important because federal legislation requires that students with disabilities be included on state assessments, but many states struggle to implement this requirement so they seek NCEO’s expertise. For instance, in partnership with the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21^st Century (ELPA21) consortium, NCEO is collaborating with 10 states and other organizations to ensure that English language proficiency assessments and instructional supports are accessible for all ELLs, including those with disabilities.
Dissemination. Through its newly-redesigned Web site, NCEO offers over 300 reports and briefs on topics ranging from an online accommodations decision-making curriculum to a new interactive report series titled, Data Analytics.

For more information about NCEO, contact Michael Moore.

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