This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of a 3-year project in New York City on the formation and maintenance of social relationships and social networks of children and adolescents with deaf-blindness. Research activities attempted to: (1) identify patterns of social interaction and social networks across educational…

This employment assessment tool for parents of young adults with deaf-blindness was created to assist in examining strengths and weaknesses of various employment programs in relation to their child's employment wants and needs, to guide parents in advocating for what is needed from a specific job to ensure their child's success, and to provide a…

This paper offers a perspective on people learning to build community, across the imposed social barriers that separate people with substantial disabilities from other people. The paper presents the story of a woman who was able to move from an institutional setting to her own home because of the community-building carried out by her support…

This guidebook was developed for early childhood administrators and consultants who provide services to support the integration of children with disabilities into preschool classrooms. It provides practical information on finding and hiring the best consultants, unraveling the special education and third-party payor resources that support…

This report resulted from a qualitative research site visit to the Madison Mutual Housing Association and Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin. The agency was selected due to its reputation for inclusive efforts to provide housing to a broad constituency including people of differing abilities, ages, income levels, and ethnic backgrounds. The Madison…

This newsletter feature issue focuses on quality assurance and innovative efforts to enhance service quality for persons with developmental disabilities. Individual articles include: "Redesigning Quality Assurance" (Clarence J. Sundram); "Quality Assurance, Quality Enhancement" (Charlie Lakin et al.); "Challenging…

This monograph describes projects of the Minnesota Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities which focus on empowerment and self-advocacy for individuals with disabilities and their family members. Individual sections address: (1) Partners in Policymaking (an intensive course to train individuals with disabilities and family…

This directory provides a selection of resources in the major areas of interest in the field of postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities. Most resources listed are organizations, information centers, agencies, foundations, or advocacy organizations related to a specific disability. The first section groups advocacy, access, and…

This document presents summaries of a variety of resources concerned with the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in faith communities. Each listing usually provides bibliographic information, source and price information, and a summary or description. Following an introductory essay, the first section provides summaries of 43…

This paper provides an overview of the course taken by the United States to improve its public education system in response to the issue of global competitiveness. The nation's attempts at reform of public schooling since 1983 are described, recommendations from the report "A Nation at Risk" are summarized, and teacher education reform…

Through technology, students with disabilities are identifying new options for participation, exerting more control, making more choices, and interacting more effectively. Inclusion, as a policy and as a practice, is reducing the physical and social isolation encountered by individuals and families, broadening expectations, reducing limits, and…

This paper describes the development and establishment of an inclusive education program on a junior high school campus. Although this is the documentation of secondary programming, with an emphasis on severe disabilities, these "phases" can be generalized to other program areas and levels of education. During phase I, a functional,…

This paper reviews the concept of integration, identifies present practices in Alberta (Canada), and describes related issues and trends. Terms are clarified, current initiatives are outlined, the effectiveness of integration is discussed, and the legal and judicial context is examined. The North American experience with integration is briefly…

This literature review on young adults with mental retardation brings together two previously disparate areas of research, community integration and young adult development. After a discussion of various theories addressing the young adulthood stage of development, the paper summarizes research on young adults with mental retardation in the…

This paper addresses the issue of measuring the integration of various ethnocultural communities into Canadian society by means of statistical or social indicators. The overall philosophy of the study is based on the following principles: (1) indicators should have a clear meaning with respect to the underlying concept of integration; (2)…