Graduates of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Speaking Up for Us (SUFU) Leadership Development Program (pictured above) recently gathered during the SUFU Statewide Conference at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort in Carrabassett Valley, ME.  SUFU, founded in 1993, is a statewide self-advocacy organization run by and for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. The leadership development program […]

Stephen F. Gilson, Ph.D., University of Maine Professor of Social Work and Coordinator and Professor of Interdisciplinary Disability Studies, has been awarded a University of Maine Trustee Professorship for 2017-2018. Gilson’s research, Social Practice Art: Countering Cultural Violence Against Aging, Disabled Populations, will be conducted over the 2017-18 academic year. The project involves interviewing and […]

Does your self-advocacy organization have questions about things like fundraising, getting people involved or leadership? The Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) can help: its mission is to strengthen the self-advocacy movement by supporting self-advocacy organizations to grow in diversity and leadership. SARTAC, the first-ever national resource center for self-advocacy, was developed by Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), […]

In late June, nearly 70 technical assistance (TA) professionals from a wide range of disciplines who support Maine’s diverse early childhood workforce gathered in Hallowell, ME for the rollout of Technical Assistance Competencies for Maine’s Early Childhood Workforce: the Process, the Product and the Plan. A technical assistance professional is an individual who provides targeted and […]

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health and long-term care coverage to more than 70 million low-income children, pregnant women, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities in the United States. Medicaid is a major source of funding for hospitals, community health centers, physicians, and nursing homes. Federal policy […]

Source: Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Technology can be a powerful tool for training healthcare professionals across multiple locations, enabling the exchange of ideas and practices that can benefit communities – including those that have been traditionally underserved. Many programs/centers have expressed a desire to build their knowledge base in this area, thereby […]

Rachel Maddow, political commentator, author and host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, recently shared the history of ADAPT, a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, and their leadership role in protesting the proposed caps and cuts to Medicaid in the Senate health-care-reform bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of […]

Seventeen University of Maine undergraduates were honored May 1, 2017 for completing the 24-credit Minor in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies during a celebration at Wells Conference Center. Students completing the Minor represented six academic disciplines: Child Development & Family Relations; Communication Sciences and Disorders; Elementary Education; Kinesiology & Physical Education; Psychology; and Social Work. Dr. Alan […]

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) recently published A Self-Advocates’s Guide to Medicaid, a plain language toolkit developed in collaboration with the Autism Services, Education, Resources and Training Collaborative (ASERT)​ ​with funding from the Special Hope Foundation.​ ​Medicaid is an important part of the United States health care system and information about Medicaid and attempts to […]

On April 24th, 2017 over 1,200 UMaine students presented their research and creative works at the 2nd joint graduate and undergraduate University of Maine Student Symposium (UMSS) at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, ME. UMaine trainees from the 2016-2017 New Hampshire-Maine Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NH-ME LEND) Program and students from […]