Expanding capacity to embrace people with disabilities topped the agenda at The Institute for Human Development’s quarterly Advisory Team meeting in early March at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As the University Center of Excellence for Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) for the state of Missouri at UMKC, IHD’s top advisors focused squarely on how to expand the social scope for people with disabilities so interactions develop friends who don’t have disabilities and who do not serve as an individual’s staff.
Challenges to overcome include the fact that many people with disabilities have been segregated for most of their lives, starting at school age. Then, many are moved to sheltered workshops where they make less than minimum wage. Others may be moved from group services to individualized services, which further narrows a person’s social interactions and ability to form healthy friendships with others who may not have disabilities.
Cassie Webb, IHD principal investigator for the Health Equity program, talked about the importance of health equity, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health.
Webb noted that, “Achieving this requires focused and ongoing societal efforts to address historical and contemporary injustices; overcome economic, social and other obstacles to healthcare; and eliminate preventable health disparities.”
From left to right: Nancy Pennington, executive director, Missouri Association of County Developmental Disabilities Service Boards; Patti Goss, member of People First of Missouri; Sharon Williams, parent; Jeff Johnson, coordinator of Real Voices and Real Choices; Vicki Davidson, retiring director of the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council (MODDC); Vim Horn, disability advocate, retired; George Gotto, director of the Institute for Human Development at UMKC; Brandon King, director of Operations at IHD, Nicole Noblet, self-advocate.
