Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

Each March, the Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month social media campaign seeks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life, as well as awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still sometimes face in connecting to the communities in which they live. This year’s artwork was created […]

Disability Rights Maine (DRM) and Speaking Up for Us (SUFU) recently collaborated on a recorded training, Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Settings Rule: Basics & Advocacy (YouTube). The training was led by Abbott Philson, SUFU Board Chair; and Lauren Wille, Esq., DRM staff attorney on the developmental disabilities team. A sign language interpreter is provided. The […]

CCIDS colleagues Cynthia Thielen and Alan Kurtz shared their perspectives on digital equity during the pandemic in a newsletter article, Digital Equity in the Time of COVID-19 (PDF), published in the Winter 2021 edition of The Communicator, a publication of the Autism National Committee. Kurtz and Thielen are members of the CCIDS Social Undistancing Committee that was established in Spring […]

Following a successful pilot program, the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) again collaborated with the Maine Department of Labor Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), the UMaine College of Education and Human Development, and Student Accessibility Services to deliver the Step Up Program for high school students with autism spectrum […]

Each fall, the NH-ME LEND Program conducts a leadership intensive on the history of disability. This year, the session was reworked to cover the history of the disability movement. Trainees were asked to watch the 2020 documentary, Crip Camp, and to reflect upon how this innovative inclusive summer camp for teenagers with disabilities during the […]

Maine Parent Federation recently updated their Summer Camp Directory for 2021 (PDF). This directory is a compilation of responses to their survey sent in the fall of 2020 to summer camps in Maine. The information is intended to help parents and guardians choose a summer camp that meets their child’s needs. All children with disabilities have the same […]

Planning Accessible Meetings and Conferences: A Suggested Checklist and Guide (PDF) is a free resource developed by the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies in partnership with Speaking Up for Us, an organization run by and for adults who live with developmental disabilities. The checklist is designed to help any person, group, or organization […]

Source: U.S. Department of Education, IDEA – 45 Years Later Nov. 29, 2020, marks the 45th anniversary of President Gerald Ford signing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) into law. The 1990 amendment to Public Law 94-142 changed the law’s name to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA has experienced numerous […]

The latest issue of Impact, a newsletter series from the Institute on Community Integration, Minnesota’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), explores the history of the Self-Advocacy Movement, including its shared history with the Civil Rights and Feminist movements of the 1960s and ’70s. In this Feature Issue on Self-Advocacy for People with Intellectual, Developmental and Other […]

Source: PPBF Smile Mask Order Form The Percival P. Baxter Foundation for Maine’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children (PPBF) is partnering with Rafi Nova to offer free Smile Masks for eligible families and professionals in Maine. In the COVID era, Smile Masks provide greater visual access for Maine’s Deaf and hard of hearing children. This […]