About the Equity and Policy Blog and Submission Guidelines
Equity and Policy: A Blog from the Center features diverse stories and viewpoints on topics related to equity and policy that impact Maine individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) across the lifespan, their families, and the communities that support them.
The blog will occasionally publish entries from guest contributors from our national network of 143 interdisciplinary centers that are also advancing policy and practice for and with individuals with IDD and their families.
How does equity differ from equality and why is that important? Equity “recognizes that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to [these] imbalances. The process is ongoing, requiring us to identify and overcome intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures.”[1]
CCIDS is Maine’s congressionally authorized and federally funded University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). The analysis of existing and proposed public policy initiatives at the federal, state and local levels is a component of one of the Center’s four core functions. Currently, there are 67 UCEDDs, with at least one in every U.S. state and territory.
Submission Guidelines
Equity and Policy welcomes submissions from CCIDS faculty, staff, trainees, and Community Advisory Committee members; individuals with IDD; family members, including adult siblings, of individuals with IDD; Maine Developmental Disabilities Network partner organizations; University of Maine, state and community partners; and Association of University Centers for Excellence in Disabilities (AUCD) network colleagues.
A blog post is typically an informal, but informed, diary style post of 300 to 1000 words in length. It may include photographs and external links to resources or multimedia. If a photo is included with your submission, please also provide the photo’s source, caption, attribution or credit, and alt text for the image.
Photographs: CCIDS is committed to protecting the well-being of others by practicing ethical photography. For example, members of vulnerable populations may not be able to provide informed consent: some individuals with disabilities; individuals from ethnically, culturally or linguistically diverse communities; and all minors under the age of 18. CCIDS will not publish any photos where the source, permission to publish, age of the subject, or the well-being of others is in question.
Please email your submission (and a few sentences about yourself) for consideration to ccidsmail@maine.edu with the subject line, Equity and Policy submission.
The viewpoints expressed in Equity and Policy are those of the contributors and do not represent official Administration for Community Living policy.
Thank you for your interest!
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1 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). (2022). Equity. Available https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/equity-definition/
Photo credit: Image by yogesh (pixabay.com) Standard License.