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Our Pledge In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free…
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The Institute for Community Inclusion is based at the University of Massachusetts Boston with additional offices at Boston Children's Hospital. Institute for Community Inclusion/UCEDD UMass Boston 10…
To Build Our Impact, We Need Your Support For over 50 years, ICI has empowered and collaborated with people with disabilities to ensure their full engagement in workplaces, schools, health care…
To keep our staff and others healthy and safe, the Institute for Community Inclusion is following social distancing protocols issued by UMass Boston and state officials. Our physical office is…
Mission As practitioners, researchers, teachers and advocates, we support systems change and partner with children and adults with disabilities, their families, and communities to advocate for…
Institute for Community Inclusion Terms of Service and Privacy Policy PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE ("Terms of Use" or "Terms") CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. By using and/or…
The origins of ICI came with the launch of the Developmental Evaluation Clinic (DEC) at Boston Children’s Hospital. The clinic opened its doors in 1967 with a mission of serving children with…
Resource Guide Inclusion means that all people, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or health care needs, have the right to: Be respected and appreciated as valuable members of their…
Staff listing and contact details
ICI’s work in the Community Life focus area emphasizes the key outcome of community life engagement (CLE) for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). By community life…
The ICI’s Education and Transition Team works with professionals, students, and families in Massachusetts and nationwide on college and career development for adolescents and young adults with…
ICI focuses on employment through a wide variety of initiatives, all with a singular focus: full inclusion of people with disabilities into the mainstream workforce. ICI addresses employment through…
The ICI’s Health Care focus stems from the original mission of the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, or UCEDDs, the national network we are part of. UCEDDs grew from…
Farewell to Outgoing Dean Bill Kiernan! Dr. William E. Kiernan recently celebrated his retirement from his role as dean of the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, the UMass Boston…
Are you a person with an intellectual and/or developmental disability who would like to learn about how services and supports are provided, research cultural issues, policy and more? The LEND Program…
On November 15th, ICI senior researcher John Butterworth provided testimony on data regarding subminimum wages at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights public briefing on the civil rights impact of…
Maria Paiewonsky, Clare Papay, Rebecca Lazo, Meg Grigal, and Debra Hart from the Think College National Coordinating Center and Transition Leadership Program presented six sessions last month in…
Cindy Thomas (MS, CRC) has been selected to serve as the director of the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI). Ms. Thomas has been an integral part of the ICI for over 30 years, significantly…
Offered through Direct Course, the College of Employment Services (CES) curriculum can help your staff advance their careers as employment professionals. Now they can access even more intensive career…
Lori Cooney, program coordinator and universal instructional design specialist at ICI and 2012 MassCUE Pathfinder recipient, has been invited to join the inaugural cohort of MassCUE Champions. MassCUE…
ICI staff member Kelly Haines and Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation’s Janet Drudik presented at the Vocational Evaluation and Career Assessment Professionals Association 2019 National Issues Forum…
ICI Learning Game Featured at National ED Games Expo The 7th annual ED Games Expo, held in Washington, D.C. on January 9, featured a range of educational games and learning technologies for children…
A new Data Note looks at the discrepancy between how many people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) want jobs, versus how many are working in their communities. The Data Note…
National Transition Leadership Program Accepting New Students SGISD’s transition leadership program bridges the gap between special education and adult disability services. It trains educators and…
ICI staffers Dr. Jennifer Sulewski, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Oliver Lyons, and Allison Cohen Hall recently published an article titled Guideposts for High-Quality Community Life Engagement Supports…
Debra Hart, principal investigator for the Institute for Community Inclusion’s Think College project, co-wrote an article for Diverse Issues in Higher Education titled “Left Out? Can the Completion…
The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS),in collaboration with ICI, published a fourth in a series of five white papers highlighting topics…
What can state developmental disabilities agencies do to increase community life engagement of the people they serve? This was the topic of discussion for the Community Life Engagement Working…
Boston Children’s Hospital Foundation held its first annual Special Events Award Reception, “A Night of the Stars.” At the ceremony ICI’s Angela Lombardo, Down Syndrome Program coordinator and LEND…
Think College has released three new publications. Their new Fast Fact, Peer Supports: Focusing on the Experiences of College Students with Intellectual Disability, summarizes findings from a…
The ICI partners with the University of Minnesota and Elsevier Publishing to produce the DirectCourse College of Employment Services, or CES. This suite of online courses allows disability support…
ICI’s Center for Assistive Technology Act Data Assistance (CATADA) launched a new series of briefs highlighting innovative or high impact activities conducted by state AT programs. Second in a…
The ICI has released a series of publications on providing day and employment services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include offering services remotely, effective use of technology, dealing…
Check out this ThinkWork brief to learn about addressing a job seeker’s support needs to increase job retention and career advancement.
A new AT Data Brief examines the usage and impact of assistive technology programs in the U.S. and its territories. Written by ICI staffers John Shepard and Daria Domin, the brief highlights data…
We would like to introduce you to the new Barbara Wilenski Gopen and Allen C. Crocker Family Fellows! Adriana Mallozzi, the Gopen Fellow, born with cerebral palsy (CP) has always been an…
Over the past 14 years, the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) has consistently reinforced the core message that employment efforts are about creating opportunity for every individual in…
The disability community is multi-dimensional and complex. People with disabilities and their experiences are diverse, therefore numerous approaches are necessary to address the multiple forms of…
On Sep. 17, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on subminimum wage for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). While reliance on subminimum wage has decreased in…
Much attention is given to language development in children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Yet the social use of language can remain challenging, even amongst DHH children who are developing…
ICI staffers had two articles published in a recent edition of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. This volume focused on employment for transition-age youth with IDD. “It’s Not Just About a…
The Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston has been awarded a 5-year $1.49 million-dollar grant from the Administration for Community Living. The Center on Youth…
In collaboration with MAICEI partners, as well as some out-of-state special education administrators doing similar work, Maria Paiewonsky and Ty Hanson have worked to create three new briefs, three…
Congratulations to ICI’s Allison Cohen Hall! Allison was named the October 2020 Innovation Award Winner by Charting the LifeCourse Nexus located at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Allison…
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education has awarded ICI’s Think College a five-year, $10 million cooperative agreement through the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for…
This DataNote looks at how many students with intellectual disabilities who applied for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services received pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) and their…
A special issue of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation highlights the innovative work of researchers at the ICI and Mathematica Policy Institute on the Substantial Gainful Activity Project (SGA…
This year, the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston (ICI) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) will present a 5-part webinar series featuring U.S…
The College of Employment Services (CES), on-line curriculum and instructor led supplement was one again approved for certification by the Association of Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE). The College…
The Center for Youth Voice/Youth Choice (CYVYC) National Resource Center at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) announces an opportunity for states to apply to participate in a Community of…
The ICI is pleased to offer the U.S. — Japan Business Leadership Institute on Youth Disability Employment Webinar Series! The first webinar, How Do We Access Employment? Japanese and American College…
The Down Syndrome Program at Boston Children’s Hospital offers specialized services for children with Down syndrome and their families. The original home of the Institute for Community Inclusion, the…
The Center for Assistive Technology Act Data Assistance (CATADA) provides technical assistance and supports to state Assistive Technology (AT) programs. AT is any item, piece of equipment, or system…
Community life engagement refers to all the ways that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities access and participate in their communities outside of employment. Activities can include…
In 2011, ICI entered into a partnership with the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council to develop an Employment First Initiative in Florida. In 2016, the Employment First Florida Act was passed…
Employment First Missouri provides training and technical assistance to service providers and staff to make Missouri’s Employment First vision a reality, advancing community employment for individuals…
EmploymentFirstMA supports the implementation of Employment First strategies and policies in Massachusetts. Employment First is a framework for systems change used across the nation. This framework…
ExploreVR gives vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies easy and convenient access to a range of VR research, related data, and tools for planning, evaluation, and decision-making. Users can watch…
Future Quest Island (FQI) is an accessible, game-based college and career readiness tool for middle schoolers with and without disabilities. Through an engaging online platform, FQI aligns 21st…
The LEND Program at Boston Children’s Hospital is an interdisciplinary training program that supports health professionals to work with patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our…
The Northeast Resource Center for Vision Education (NERCVE) is committed to improving education for people with blindness and low vision. We offer in-person and online training in three main areas…
The State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) brings together state intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) agencies for sharing, educating, and providing guidance on practices and policies…
StateData.info offers publications and data related to employment and disability. It builds off of decades of research conducted at ICI about the work of state intellectual and developmental…
Think College is a national initiative dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disability. With a commitment to equity and…
ThinkWork! is the hub for an array of projects related to employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Examples include the Rehabilitation Research & Training Center…
From expert consultation and technical assistance to online training for employment professionals, our services help agency leaders and disability staff to excel and thrive in their work.
Ngai Kwan has recently co-authored a journal article with Glacia Ethridge, Angel Dowden and Michael Brooks from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (a HBCU), and Debra Harley…
The Institute for Community Inclusion was recently awarded the Program on Innovative Rehabilitation Training on Employer Engagement Innovative Rehabilitation Training Program (PIRTEE), a…