The Iowa Developmental Disabilities (DD) Council was created by the federal Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, a law intended to assure that people with developmental disabilities and their families help to design and have access to services, supports and assistance that provide opportunities for them to be independent, productive, and included in their communities.
The federal law also requires the Council to identify the ways in which they intend to improve those services and supports and to submit them, every five years, to the federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) in the form of a State Plan. The Iowa DD Council has been working for some time now to develop its proposed 2012-2016 Council State Plan. We have solicited information from Iowans with developmental disabilities, their families, caregivers, advocates, state agencies and other stakeholders. We have also reviewed reports, conducted surveys and gathered information from as many sources as possible.
We are still evaluating and fine-tuning the plan to best meet the needs of Iowans with developmental disabilities and their families and now invite our Iowa stakeholders to comment on the goals and objectives that will direct the Council’s work over the next five years.
As you review the Plan, we ask that you think about how the Council can best use its resources; like time, people and money and what kinds of strategies and activities will assist people living with developmental disabilities to get the information, skills, confidence and access they need to be good advocates for the change. If you have specific suggestions regarding implementation of the goals and objectives, please include those, as we’ll continue to develop strategies and activities over the next several months.