I’ve had the good fortune to participate in several important
local events this month:
Autism Society of
America conference: I was happy to
represent D.C.’s Developmental Disabilities Council at the 50-year anniversary
conference of the national Autism Society (ASA). It was a worthwhile event, with a combination
of sessions on important national-level legislation, workplace and education
issues, and science and technology updates.
The event was strange in a couple of ways though. First, in her luncheon address, Mary Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator
for the Administration on Community Living (ACL) of the federal Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), alarmed many when she seemed to suggest that segregating
people with disabilities was acceptable, and she only issued a correction after
lots of pushback from many quarters: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2018/07/18/talk-segregating-alarms-congress/25296/. Much less of an issue, but noteworthy for a
50-year anniversary event, was the relatively low turnout with only one day of general
sessions followed by an advocacy day in Congress. Given the similarities in format and the
limited attendance, I had to wonder why the ASA didn’t just join forces with
other disability advocacy organizations at the Disability Policy Seminar (DPS)
in April. It’s better when we band
together, and I hope they’ll consider this next year.
National Association
of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) conference: Following
the ASA conference, I joined Alison Whyte, executive director of our own DD
Council, along with other local and national advocates for the final “Days of Dialogue”
that closed out the NACDD conference at the National Harbor. As a relatively recent addition to the D.C.
DD Council, for me this event was an eye-opener. It was very helpful to learn about other
states’ approaches to training local advocates and following their
post-training progress, and also to hear about some of the advocacy
organizations that have been spawned by DD council training nationwide. Alison was featured to talk about the intersectionality
of disability and other issues in our D.C. Advocacy Partners (DCAP) training
and the advantages of geography in D.C.’s
follow-up with its DCAP graduates. Here
she is!
Quality Trust Annual
Gala: And finally, last night was
our very own Quality Trust’s annual gala event.
It took place at the District Winery in the newly redeveloped Navy Yard
area. The night was beautiful, food and
company were great, and the entire event a huge success. A great midsummer treat, and Hallelujah! The rain
held off.
I wasn’t able to attend the Reinventing Quality (http://www.reinventingquality.org/upcoming/)
conference taking place right now in Baltimore, but many folks are there waving
the D.C. flag and marking the 28th anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), signed July 26, 1990.
Much to celebrate!