Embedding Cultural Diversity in UCEDDs

Over the next year, ICI's Anab Gulaid (pictured) will help University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) around the country strengthen their diversity and cultural/linguistic competence. Federally-designated UCEDDs, such as ICI, promote independence, productivity, and community inclusion for all, including individuals with disabilities, some of whom belong to diverse racial and ethnic groups. On September 1, the UCEDD at Georgetown University in Washington, DC received a one-year grant from the federal Administration for Community Living to implement an inclusion training action plan for the UCEDD network. Led by Georgetown, ICI will be a member of a consortium of four partner UCEDDs and a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program that will provide consultation, training, and technical assistance to the UCEDD network on using and implementing the resources developed by the guide, Embedding Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence: A Guide for UCEDD Curricula and Training Activities.  Gulaid will represent ICI, working with Principal Investigator Amy Hewitt. 

"Earlier this year, I was on the advisory board of the project that developed that guide," Gulaid says. "Now I'm going to help other UCEDDs on how to use it, doing technical assistance work, in person and online. The project may also show us how other UCEDDs are doing cultural competence while serving people with disabilities."