Feature Issue on Crisis Management for People with Intellectual, Developmental, and Other Disabilities

Cliff Poetz in a gray suit and tie with a blue shirt. He is wearing thin, dark-rimmed glasses and a gray beard and mustache.

In Memoriam: Cliff Poetz 1949 - 2021

The disability community lost an iconic champion on March 25, 2021, with the passing of Cliff Poetz, a groundbreaker and pathfinder in the inclusion and empowerment of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities for more than 50 years and one of the very first active self-advocates in the nation. In 1973 he was the first person ever with a developmental disability to be called to testify before a Senate subcommittee on disability policy. He was one of the very few people to have received the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation Self-Empowerment Award. In 2017, Cliff received the Leadership in Advocacy Award of the Association of University Centers on Disability. And the list goes on. Since 2001, Cliff worked as a community liaison with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. As a friend and colleague succinctly expressed, Cliff’s life was “lived fully, daringly, effectively and happily.” Thank you, Cliff, for the paths you forged and the dreams you inspired.

Volume 34, Number 1 | Spring 2021​

Feature Issue: Crisis Management for People with Intellectual, Developmental, and Other Disabilities

Issue Editors:

Laura Stough, Assistant Director, Center on Disability and Development, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

Mary Sowers, Executive Director, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, Alexandria, Virginia

Renáta Tichá, Co-Director, Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education, Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota

Managing Editor: Janet Stewart

Graphic Designer: Sarah Curtner

Web Developers: Shawn Lawler, Jonathon Walz

Impact is published by the Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD), and the Research and Training Center on Community Living and Employment (RTC), College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. It is supported, in part, by Grant #90DDUC0070 from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the Institute; and Grant #90RTCP0003 from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), HHS, to the RTC. Additional support for this issue was provided by Grant #T73MC12835 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HHS, to the Minnesota LEND.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute, Centers or University. The content does not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Health and Human Services, or Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal Government should not be assumed.

For print copies contact: Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, 109 Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 • icipub@umn.edu.

Impact is available in alternate formats upon request. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.