Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions that are due to mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.
"The normalization principle means making available to all people with disabilities patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life or society." Normalization is a rigorous theory of human services that can be applied to disability services. Normalization theory arose in the early 1970s, towards the end of the institutionalisation period in the US; it is one of the strongest and long lasting integration theories for people with severe disabilities.
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) is an American non-profit professional organization concerned with intellectual disability and related developmental disabilities. AAIDD has members in the United States and more than 50 other countries.
Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It consists of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The program's main purpose is to allow volunteers to be paired up with a buddy with an intellectual and developmental disability and provide them with a friend or a mentor. Best Buddies is the world's largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Johnny Lee Matson is professor and distinguished research master in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University. He was also named to 'Thomson Reuters' 2014 list of "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds," for his work in the social sciences. Matson is recognized for his work on development, assessment and treatment of co-morbid conditions in developmental intellectual disabilities. Matson has extensively researched people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. However, his high number of self publications, self citations and peer review practices have been questioned by many in the field.
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability and mental retardation (MR), is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. It is defined by an IQ under 70 in addition to deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living.
People with intellectual disabilities can be both the victims and perpetrators of sexual violence, including child sexual abuse. Prevalence rates of sexual violence against people with intellectual disabilities are high when compared with the experience of the general population. Whilst people with intellectual disabilities experience sexual violence in many of the same ways as the general population, they may encounter additional issues relating to their impairments and the social environments in which they live. These can include increased vulnerability, questions around ability to consent to sexual activities, differential treatment before the law, social attitudes about intellectual disability and sexuality, and restricted access to suitable support and recovery services.
Hattie Larlham is a non-profit organization that creates opportunities for more than 1,800 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In 2011, the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary. Named after its founder, Hattie Larlham, the organization is headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, in Summit County. Wendy Pardee is the organization's CEO.
Dr. Tom Sannicandro is an American attorney, businessman, and researcher. He is currently serving as director of the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges. He was formerly the director of the Institute for Community Inclusion, UMass Boston. He also served as a State Representative in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for Framingham and Ashland, and a leader on civil rights of persons with intellectual disabilities. where he served as the Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education. He sponsored a number of ground breaking initiatives including the Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Program, where students with intellectual or developmental disabilities attended Massachusetts public colleges and universities, and the Real Lives Bill, giving individuals served by the Department of Developmental Services control over their lives by controlling their budgets. For more than 15 years he has been a disability attorney, representing students and families to enforce their educational rights, as well as the other legal issues that arise for people with disabilities and their families. As an academic researcher he has published various articles exploring the effect of higher education for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and health care trends for children with special health care needs. As Chair of the Ashland School Committee in 2004, he beat Mary Connaughton for the seat. Sannicandro has been called "a strong advocate for education funding and a strong voice for people with disabilities."
Community integration, while diversely defined, is a term encompassing the full participation of all people in community life. It has specifically referred to the integration of people with disabilities into US society from the local to the national level and for decades was a defining agenda in countries such as Great Britain.
Michael Lee Wehmeyer is the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education and Chairperson of Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas. His research focuses on self-determination, the application of positive psychology and strengths-based approaches to disability, the education of students with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and access to the general curriculum for such students. He is Director and Senior Scientist at Kansas University's Beach Center on Disability. He formerly directed the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities.
Family support is the support of families with a member with a disability, which may include a child, an adult or even the parent in the family. In the United States, family support includes "unpaid" or "informal" support by neighbors, families and friends, "paid services" through specialist agencies providing an array of services termed "family support services", school or parent services for special needs such as respite care, specialized child care or peer companions, or cash subsidies, tax deductions or other financial subsidies. Family support has been extended to different population groups in the US and worldwide. Family support services is currently a "community services and funding" stream in New York and the US which has had variable "application" based on disability group, administrating agency, and even, regulatory and legislative intent.
Gunnar Dybwad (1909–2001) was an American professor and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. He is best known for his support for the social model of disability, reframing disability accommodations as a matter of civil rights, not medical treatment. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities gives out the Dybwad Humanitarian Award annually in his honor.
Scott S. Hall a psychology and behavioral science professor and researcher at Stanford University's School of Medicine, specializing in Fragile X syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, and in research on the relationship of Fragile X syndrome to other conditions, including Autism Spectrum Disorders. He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology from the Institute of Psychiatry in 1997.
Edward Frank Zigler was an American developmental psychologist and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. In addition to his academic research on child development, he was best known as one of the architects of the federal Head Start program.
Daniel Joseph Tomasulo is an American counseling psychologist, writer, and professor who teaches positive psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), and in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, and is the Director of the New York City Certification in Positive Psychology for the New York Open Center. His clinical specialization is in psychodrama and sociometry, with an academic specialization in intellectual disabilities. Tomasulo developed Interactive Behavioral Therapy (IBT) a form of group psychotherapy for people with intellectual disabilities, and coauthored the American Psychological Association’s first book on the subject: Healing Trauma: The Power of Group Treatment for People with Intellectual Disabilities (2005) with Nancy Razza. Tomasulo is also the author of two books: Action Methods in Group Psychotherapy: Practical Aspects (1998) and Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist’s Memoir (2008).
Arie Rimmerman is an Israeli academic in disability policy research. As of 2018, he is the Richard Crossman Professor of Social Welfare and Social Planning at the University of Haifa, Israel and was the founder Dean of the Social Welfare and Health Sciences faculty. He has been a distinguished Professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communication, Syracuse University, and has also lectured at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Charles University, Prague.
The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) is an advisory body that provides assistance to the President of the United States and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public policy issues related to intellectual disability. It was started as a blue-ribbon panel by John F. Kennedy in 1961, and later reorganized through executive order into an official panel by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, with the goal of ensuring the right to a "decent, dignified place in society". Originally known as the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, it was eventually renamed in 2003 by George W. Bush over concerns regarding negative labelling. It was established through the work of Eunice Kennedy Shriver while serving as the head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.
