Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

News and updates from the New Hampshire-Maine Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NH-ME LEND) Program. 2023-2024 University of Maine NH-ME LEND Trainees (September 2023) The University of Maine welcomed seven trainees for the 2023-2024 NH-ME LEND program year: Aicha Abdillahi Ali (Special Education); Cynthia Cushing (Social Work); Elizabeth Deliso (Special Education); Kasey McBlais (Family Member); Fozia […]

CAC Member News Brian Harnish is serving as treasurer for Speaking Up for Us (SUFU). Brian Harnish and Jon McGovern are two of the four self-advocates interviewed by  Evan Murray of Democracy Maine for a new video, Your Vote, Every Vote! Maine Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, also appears in the video. Kile Pelletier and […]

Our friend and colleague, Bonnie Robinson, retired on January 6, 2024 after 22 years of service to CCIDS and the University of Maine. From 1999-2001, Bonnie worked as a graduate assistant on the Center’s Maine Adolescent Transition Partnership project. This work was personal as it coincided with her son’s transition, as well. Bonnie was hired […]

CCIDS research associates Marnie Morneault and Bonnie Robinson have collaborated on the development of a new multi-language online resource, Opening Child Care in Maine: Resources and Support.  Since 2015, Morneault has been providing technical assistance to New Mainers who have children with disabilities. These families frequently mention the difficulty they have in accessing culturally appropriate childcare […]

Spring Kick Off: Engaging in Advocacy and the Policy Process (January 27, 2023) In late January, the NH-ME LEND Program hosted a panel discussion and keynote speaker as part of their Spring Kick Off Event, Engaging in Advocacy and the Policy Process. The five panelists, one from NH and four from ME, represented a variety […]

CAC Member News Congratulations to LyAnn Grogan who was named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KFI. Avery Olmstead and Janet May co-presented, “The Lived Experience of Disability in Maine: Better Care for Patients with Disabilities,” at the Maine Osteopathic Association Conference in Rockport, ME. Kile Pelletier served as a panelist for the NH-ME LEND leadership intensive, “Current Topics in […]

Equitable health data represents all populations and can be linked to their common characteristics. When researchers from the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), sought to examine the health equity of Maine’s population with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities regarding COVID-19, they encountered a data gap. Maine’s COVID-19 data […]

2023 IDS Celebration of Achievement Fifteen University of Maine students were honored on April 25, 2023 during the 2023 Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Celebration of Achievement at Wells Conference Center. One student was recognized for completing the 9-credit Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. Fourteen undergraduates were recognized for completing the 24-credit Minor in Interdisciplinary Disability […]

On January 3, 2023, Shilo Goodhue M.Ed., joined Jennifer Maeverde and Marnie Morneault as a Research Associate II on the CCIDS Early Childhood team. She is an alumna of the NH-ME LEND Program (2022). Her LEND capstone poster, Collaboration to Empower Every Learner, was accepted by peer-review for presentation at the annual Association of University Centers on […]