Book: Integrated Self-Advocacy Curriculum

This book provides professionals and family members resources to maintain safe forums for self-discovery and greater understanding about self-advocacy. This book helps student develop a personal self-advocacy portfolio which can be adjusted over one’s lifespan through an 11 unit curriculum with detailed lesson plans, worksheets and activities on topics like self-disclosure about having an autism spectrum disorder; the history of autism; role models with ASD; media literacy on topics involving autism.

This book is available for purchase at www.asperger.net.

Academic Research: Facilitate the Transition from High School to Community Employment

This article summarizes one pilot program that brought together a school district, the vocational rehabilitation services, a local employment vendor, and a local community college to help encourage students in their final years of high school to find and maintain employment as well as to grow functional skills and self-advocacy skills in order to enter adulthood and live more independently. This article summarizes the success/limits of the project as well as provided some suggestions for replication.

Read the Article – Collaborating with a Community College and a Supported-Employment Agency to Facilitate the Transition from High School to Community Employment.

Fact Sheet: Accessibility Guidelines for Speakers

This document outlines best practices for speakers that encourage accessibility in designing handouts and presentations.

Download the Fact Sheet – Accessibility Guidelines for Speakers (PDF).

Guide: Navigating College – A Handbook on Self-Advocacy Written for Autistic Students from Autistic Adults

This handbook, written by the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and funded by the Autism NOW Center, offers tips and suggestions about several different issues that people with autism and other developmental disabilities may encounter in college. Topics include accommodations, living in the dorm, independent living, health and wellness, safety, talking to professors, discussing disability issues with others, disclosure, and participating in clubs and other social activities.

View the Guide – Navigating College: A Handbook on Self-Advocacy Written for Autistic Students from Autistic Adults.

Report: The FINDS Report

In 2010, The Arc conducted a national online survey, called the FINDS Survey, to obtain perceptions of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families on a range of life-span issues. These issues included education, transition, employment, transportation, community living, housing, family joys and concerns, and many more relating to various aspects of living. With more than 5,000 responses, the results have provided families, providers, researchers, legislators, and other key stakeholders with an unprecedented depth of current information as reported by families connected to I/DD.

Read more about the Report – FINDS Survey and Report.

Book: Health Matters: The Exercise and Nutrition Health Education Curriculum for People with Developmental Disabilities

Health Matters: The Exercise and Nutrition Health Education Curriculum for People with Developmental Disabilities (2010) by Marks, B. Sisirak, J. & Heller, T.

Guide for planning a health promotion program for adults with disabilities.

View the publisher’s website for Health Matters.

Articles: Impact – Feature Issue on Aging and People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

A special issue of a newsletter from the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Minnesota. Includes articles self advocates, siblings, researchers, and practitioners on aging with developmental disabilities.

View the Articles – Impact – Feature Issue on Aging and People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

 

Website: Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities

A website of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Aging with Developmental Disabilities: Lifespan Health and Function located at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The website contains a number of publications, briefs, and other resources related to aging with developmental disabilities.

Visit the Website – Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities.

Website: Supports Intensity Scale

This website provides information about the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) provided by the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).  This scale measures the needs of a person in personal, work, and social activities in order to identify the types and intensities of supports that a person may need in order to develop skills and attain life goals.

Visite the Website – Supports Intensity Scale.