Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

NADTC has released it's 2020 Annual Trends Report, highlighting challenges in transportation over the past year and solutions being immplemented across the United States. Topics include: Volunteer Driver Programs in the Age of COVID-19, Transportation for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, A Fixed-Route Response to Assisting Communities During a Pandemic, Meeting the Transportation Needs of Diverse Older Adults and People with Disabilities, and more.

Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt reflects on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in honor of its 31st anniversary. In this blog post, she writes about her experiences advocating for disability rights as a disabled woman, and how the ADA, along with her intersectional identity has impacted her life through high school, college, and into her career.

This survey is intended to collect data on the experiences of aging and disability community-based organizations (CBOs) contracting with health care entities. This data will help the Business Institute develop resources to support CBOs at all stages of the health care contracting journey, as well as inform policymakers and health care professionals on the growing capacity of aging and disability CBOs.

This new fact sheet highlights funding and flexibilities that help increase access to competitive integrated employment (CIE) for youth and adults with disabilities. These opportunities are provided through the work of multiple federal agencies providing services to individuals with disabilities, including ACL and CMS.

On Monday, July 12, 2021 three ACL grantees released a digital book titled, 30 Years of Community Living for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities. The book shares personal perspectives on community living and inclusion shared by people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) who served as advisors to the project. The book was written by the directors of three longitudinal studies funded by ACL’s Projects of National Significance program.

In honor of Pride month, ACL has published a blog post highlighting the experiences of LGBTQ+ people with disabilities and the challeges many face in advocating for equity and inclusion. The blog post also outlines the various measures ACL has taken to ensure the diverse needs of the community are met, specficially for individuals with IDD.

The Coverage to Care (C2C) patient resource released earlier this year, Telehealth: What to Know for Your Family, is now available in Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese, as well as English and Spanish. This resource helps patients learn about the types of care they can receive through telehealth, how to prepare for an appointment, and what to expect during a telehealth visit.

On June 22, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Olmstead v L.C., delcaring that people with disabilities have a civil right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to live and fully participate in their communities. ACL's Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Alison Barkoff, released a blog post on June 22, 2021 disucssing the significance of this ruling and the importance of expanding our HCBS system following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The application for the next round of NCAPPS Technical Assistance is now available. Technical Assistance will be provided to up to ten States, Tribes, or Territories for up to 100 hours per year for up to two years. Technical assistance will help advance person-centered thinking, planning and practice to support people with disabilities and older adults with long-term service and support needs. Applications are due by July 30, 2021.

ACL has created a new COVID-19 resource page that houses information to help older adults and people with disabilities access vaccines. The resource page includes facts about COVID-19 vaccinations, information from the CDC about increasing vaccine accessibility, ACL guidance for the aging and disability networks and more.