Disabilities

The I&R Support Center holds a call or webinar on a monthly basis with I&R Specialists concerning topics of interest to those who work in the field of aging and disability I&R/A. Notes, PowerPoint presentations, and an audio recording from each call can be found here.

The National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) is an initiative designed to support states’ interest in assessing the performance of their programs and delivery systems in order to improve services for older adults and individuals with physical disabilities. NCI-AD is a collaborative effort between ADvancing States and HSRI. The following is an archive of webinars about the NCI-AD initiative.

The Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) released a new update to their guidebook, “Section 8 Made Simple - Special Edition: Using the Housing Choice Voucher Program to End Chronic Homelessness,” with support of the Melville Charitable Trust. The guidebook explains how to use fair housing law and federal guidance to make the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program accessible to people with disabilities, and adds a new focus on helping those who are experiencing chronic homelessness.

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) announced the release of two new publications about employment, transition, and education for youth with disabilities. The publications are: "By Youth, for Youth: Employment," and "Supporting Families of Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education: Learning from the Voices of Families."

The Office of Disability Employment Policy and the LEAD Center released three Employment First technical briefs for individuals working on the implementation of Employment First in their states, regions, and organizations. Each of the briefs offers different technical guidance on the following topics: Federal policy that supports Employment First systems, federal legal framework that supports competitive employment outcomes, and criteria for performance excellence.

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability published "Designing Statewide Career Development Strategies & Programs," a guide to help states assist youth and youth with disabilities prepare for employment and college. This is a two-part guide which includes a primer for youth career development and an implementation guide with promising practices from successful programs for states to model.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in collaboration with the Kessler Foundation published this month's National Trends on Disability Employment report (nTIDE). Each month this report is published to mark the changes of employment for people with disabilities. The last 11 months have been a period of job growth for Americans living with disabilities. This month showed a decline in employment statistics. Please note that these statistics are not seasonally adjusted.

This infographic shows an overview of the current statistics pertaining to experiences of individuals with disabilities that are living in the United States.

The United States Departments of Health and Human Services and Education released a policy statement on September 14, 2015, that declares that all children with disabilities should be allowed access to "inclusive high-quality" early childhood programs, "where they are provided with individualized and appropriate support in meeting high expectations." Presently, children with disabilities and their families face difficulties in accessing these programs that are available for their peers.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) released a memo and report on the status of community living over the past 50 years. The report uses these findings to offer recommendations for improvement of services, access, opportunity, and support for for the next 25 years.