Helping You Help Victims with Intellectual and Other Developmental Disabilities (IDD)

THINK+change’s Navigating the Disability System for and with Victims with Intellectual and Other Developmental Disabilities (IDD) training at the CAIA Conference will improve your preparedness to support victims with IDD.

Learn to speak the language of IDD acronyms and services: Each of our worlds has its own vocabulary.  The disability service delivery world is no different.  For instance, do you know which SEP people with ASD would use to access the SLS waiver?  Or how a CCB CM/RC might help you help a victim with CP who also struggles with both receptive and expressive communication?

Learn about people with IDD: You likely recognize the vulnerability of people with IDD.  However, do you know what an IDD is?  How is it diagnosed?  How an IDD impacts a person’s life?  How does Colorado define an IDD? What happens when a person with IDD turns 18?

Learn best practices on communicating with victims with IDD: Do you know how to identify that a person might have an IDD so you can determine what accommodations might best help serve him/her? Each attendee will receive a copy of THINK+change’s Communication Quick Tips, pictured below.  This practical, useable guide provides an overview of DD, IDD and ASD, tips for communicating with people with IDD, information on mandatory reporting as it impact people with IDD, and a listing with contact information for Arc Chapters throughout Colorado.

Learn how to accommodate the unique needs of victims with IDD: Your work with victims with disabilities has probably shown you that they often face barriers not always experienced to the same degree by victims without disabilities.  Communication and accessible transportation, for instance, can be significant barriers for victims with IDDs.  Collaboration and bridging barriers with both community disability advocates as well as the disability service delivery system on behalf of victims with IDD is an important skill.

Darla Stuart, Executive Director of The Arc of Aurora and its training and social enterprise THINK+change, and I, manager of THINK+change, have a combined 50+ years of work with people with IDD and will be presenting Navigating the Disability System for and with Victims with Intellectual and Other Developmental Disabilities (IDD).  We, too, are advocates and share your passion for community collaboration with the goal of meeting individual needs to help improve the individual’s quality of life.  We look forward to your joining us for a jam-packed morning of learning in Vail in June!