In 1987, the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities created a ground-breaking, innovative training program called Partners in Policymaking to teach parents and self-advocates the power of advocacy to change the way people with disablities are supporte, viewed, taught, live and work. Since 1987, Partners programs have been implemented nationally and internationally. More than 15,000 Partners graduates are part of a growing national and international network of community leaders serving on policy making committees, commissions, and boards at all levels of government. Partners in Policymaking offers 5 online courses: 1) Partners in Living (concepts of self-determination, family ...

With an appropriate level of support, people with significant disabilities can lead self-determined lives.  This resource  discusses  how self-determination applies to individuals who are deaf-blind and how it affects families, educational programming, and service delivery.  (The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness is located at the Teaching Research Institute in Monmouth, Oregon.  It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs.  At the time this paper was written, the project was called NTAC.)

These free multimedia training sessions will provide you with an overview of a variety of topics.   A large number of sessions are available, from 2003 to the present. Among the titles are (a) Transition from School to Adulthood for Youth with Disabilities; Where Are We in 2009?; (b) Test-Taking Strategies; (c) Self-Determination; (d) Supported Employment Best Practices; (e) Customized Employment; (f) Making Your Business Accessible -- and 33 more.  PowerPoints and links to resources accompany many of thesepresentations.  Free sign-in.   (The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports and Job Retention is located at Virginia Commonwealth ...

These teleconference calls on transition topics are designed for families and professional partners.  Each call features a speaker, knowledgeable about a particular topic, who gives a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period.  Six audio transcripts with handouts are available in this series.  (The Parents’ Place is a parent-run information and resource center helping families of children with disabilities across the state of Maryland, with headquarters in Glen Burnie.)

As a service for  community rehabilitation programs and other community-based service providers, T-TAP offers audios, transcripts, and links to resources from 29 archived seminars.  Topics of the presentations include (a) Self-Determination: The Natural Support; (b) Supporting a Person with Difficult Behaviors; (c) Customized Employment; (d) Self-Employment; (e) Staff Training and Development for Organizational Change -- and 24 more. (T-TAP is a project of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports and Job Retention, Virginia Commonwealth University, in partnership with the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts.  This ...