With technology always evolving, it can be difficult to keep up with what provides the best support. For that reason, selecting technology for home and community based services shouldn’t begin with the technology itself. It requires a person-centered approach focusing on assessment, outcomes and the dignity of risk. In this session, attendees will review the value of enabling technology as one tool for support then discuss evidence-based practices being used by states and I/DD agencies to support “technology first” service planning. Specific technologies and their solutions will be highlighted as well.

Community of Champions is an advocacy program funded by the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, powered by Friendship Community Care. The mission of Community of Champions is to develop every Arkansan into an advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities. The CoC envision communities full of champions, advocating for individuals with developmental disabilities. Community of Champions strives to educate, inspire, and empower peer advocates, self-advocates, and state leaders to understand the importance behind advocacy and how it brings our communities closer together, growing our state to its maximum potential. To be a champion you must be V. I.T.A.L to yourself and to your peers, and our program can help give you the tools to do so.

• Just as other areas of the body can experience problems that keep them from being healthy or working well, so too can the mind. If someone suffers from a personality disorder, there is a problem with the mind that affects the way the person thinks or acts. It is important in studying personality development to have an understanding of these conditions, what causes them, and what can be done about them.

The PASSEs, as managed care organizations authorized under the Medicaid regulations, carry with them new layers of opportunities for appeals of decisions that adversely affect beneficiaries. Parents, advocates, and individuals must be prepared for an adverse decision about a service provided in order to adequately make a case that the decision was wrong. Thomas Nichols, Legal Director at Disability Rights, will instruct attendees on what to do when that adverse decision arrives.

The discovery process diverges from the traditional job placement model and focuses instead on the job seeker’s preferences and skill sets as a way to develop customized employment options. Our presentation will focus on what this process entails and what successful job development strategies look like. Participants will have a better understanding of how to use community connections, informational interviews, and hands on work experiences to explore vocational possibilities.

Each person who receives services is surrounded by a team of individuals striving to assist in leading a higher quality of life. The foundation of this team belongs to direct support professionals. Empowerment through a complete toolbox, a foundation will hold the rest of the team through their work. Complacency is a concept that can cause cracks in a foundation. DSPs must receive regular training in developing tools as well as maintaining them.

• This session will reflect on the changes coming to our system that are driven by funders, families and people with disabilities and how service organizations must implement continuous quality improvement practices in their approaches to empowering people to lead self-directed lives. This session will also address some of the issues that direct support professionals across the country are telling NADSP about their work, what they need to be successful and offer suggestions that promote the notion that "Quality is defined at the point of interaction" and how NADSP envisions that direct support professionals should walk side-by-side with those they support toward a life of freedom, dignity and choice. Macbeth will share some stories from the road, and some "uncomfortable truths" to make you consider things a little differently about the work of direct support professionals.

This training will give an overview of the options available to individuals who need assistance with decision-making and how those options can ensure that individuals retain as many rights as possible. The presenter will provide a template for psychiatric advanced directives, as well as a corresponding user guide. The presentation will also include changes made to Arkansas’s guardianship laws, how those changes broaden the rights of the ward, and how those changes affect the service provider’s relationships with the guardian and the ward.

ACCESS® incorporates evidence-based curriculum and vocational training strategies in their young adult and pre-employment transitional skills (Pre-ETS) programs.  Instruction is multi-faceted as classroom time focuses on soft skills education, while the campus-based enterprises provide on-the-job training.  ACCESS has been innovative in developing and utilizing campus enterprises, as well as acknowledging the importance of community partners.  Cultivating and maintaining community relationships require strong support from the provider.  Combining ACCESS enterprises with community partners has allowed opportunities for increased independence, self-advocacy and real-life work experiences.

James will follow up his keynote presentation with a Q & A session. Bring your questions and learn from a veteran leader in the self-advocacy movement. 

In this presentation, Kasey will give insight into her experience as a student and freelance graphic designer in the hopes of providing people with disabilities ways in which they can gain education and employment by using advocacy, technology, and networking or resource-finding. 

Because our work puts us in situations where we commonly see or hear about ongoing and sometimes unspeakable suffering, it is not unusual to see "helpers" fall victim to compassion fatigue. The cynicism, depression, and lethargy of burnout can occur when you're not in control of how you carry out your job, when you're working toward goals that don't resonate with you, and when you lack social support. If you don't tailor your responsibilities to match your true calling, or at least take a break once in a while, you could face a mountain of mental and physical health problems.

In 2016, Arkansas's Department of Human Services implemented an algorithm-based system to determine the amount of in-home care ARChoices Medicaid recipients would receive. Immediately, people on the program who experienced no medical improvement suffered drastic cuts in care, causing them to lie in their own waste, develop bed sores, skip meals, and stay shut in. Through investigation, litigation, media, and other self-advocacy, the people most affected fought back over the next three years and ultimately eliminated the algorithm-based system. This session will recount the advocacy efforts and share ways to identify and contest unjust use of assessment and algorithm-based decisions.

• A primary focus of the Family Support Program/ Community Parent Resource Center (FSP/CPRC) at Arkansas Support Network is to assist family advocates and self-advocates to develop personal power and effectiveness in accessing resources and information that enables them to participate actively in their community. This presentation is divided into three principal sections: first, the growth of our program’s initiative to increase outreach and advocacy in the Hispanic/Latino community; second, specific advocacy strategies and ideas for parents, professionals and self-advocates; and third, video and in-person experiences of parents and a self-advocate demonstrating the positive impact of this growth and the strategies used.

The largest unemployed/underemployed group of individuals in the United States are those individuals with a disability. This group consists persons who wish to work and contribute to their communities. The fastest growing service profession is that of Direct Care professionals. In Arkansas alone there is currently a shortage of 5000 DCPs to care for our aging and disabled communities. The common solution to these problems is providing education, job placement, and support to individuals with disabilities which would allow them to work as DCPs. Our presentation explains the TLC program which does just that. Solving two problems with a single solution!

At Partners for Inclusive Communities we have the safety and sexual violence prevention project. We hope to help educate individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities healthy relationships. We have also been engaged in a national level, a national conversation once a month through the Vera Institute on Justice. We would like to share with self advocates in Arkansas what we've learned through sell Advocate from around the nation how to live happy healthy and safe.

This session will provide self advocates with tools to use to assist in knowing and speaking up for their rights. 

• Staff, friends and family members are the first line of defense and are often the first to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness. Early intervention can prevent symptom escalation and decompensation and allows us to provide appropriate services, interventions, and supports. Early and proper intervention fosters empathy and allows us to be more patient when a client is exhibiting challenging behaviors and enables us to help our clients and others (doctors, psychiatrists, school personnel) understand the client's experiences.