40 Big Ideas
From the Editors
This issue is about 40 Big Ideas that have supported people with disabilities to live better lives in their communities. The Institute on Community Integration was a big idea when it opened in 1985. People were leaving institutions because they were not good places for anyone to live. They needed support to live, work, play, and learn in the community. ICI wanted to help support them. Instead of trying to do what the institutions had done, they learned from civil rights and disability rights leaders.
Forty years later, ICI has helped millions of workers to support people with disabilities. It reports important information about where people with disabilities live. Its programs help keep students of all abilities from dropping out of school. Its work helps people with disabilities live as independently as they want, costing the government less money than the institutions did. In this issue of Impact, to help mark our 40 years, we celebrate 40 of the biggest ideas that have made a difference for people with disabilities.
What big ideas do you have for the next 40 years?
The Institute on Community Integration began as a big idea. In 1985, people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) were leaving institutions with deplorable conditions and moving into communities. To support them to live, work, play, and learn, ICI was among a handful of research and training centers taking direction from the movements for civil and disability rights, not the medical complex. Through innovative policies and practices, people with IDD would have the support they needed to make decisions about their services and take on the full spectrum of citizenship rights and duties.
Since then, the number of people with IDD living in institutions has plummeted. The Americans with Disabilities Act, other legislation and court decisions, and the Disability Rights Movement have reinforced the rights of people with IDD to live in their communities. Helping to make that happen, ICI (publisher of Impact), has trained millions of frontline workers supporting people with IDD. Its Residential Information Systems Project provides critical national data on the settings where people with IDD live. Its early intervention programs are helping to alleviate the problems associated with long wait times for services related to autism and other neurodevelopmental differences. Its transition planning programs help students with disabilities move from the school years to adult living. Its Check & Connect student engagement system boosts attendance and graduation rates across the country and globally, for students with and without disabilities. Together with other University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities , ICI has created cost-effective, results-driven programs that prepare professionals, empower families, and support self-advocates as they shape the future of our communities.
As we mark this 40th anniversary, we celebrate these accomplishments and reflect on other big ideas that changed not only the lives of people with IDD, but also the wider community. Some have roots in the Civil Rights Movement, and others were more recent. Some started as ideas to make life better for people with disabilities but ended up helping everyone. Others began outside the IDD environment but found a home here. As you remember them, we invite you to consider what big ideas will shape the next 40 years.
-Amy Hewitt, Tia Nellis, and Jerry Smith, issue editors