INTRODUCTION

The Board of Directors of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) encourages its members to submit Action Plan Proposals that will address timely, relevant issues in the field and/or the unique needs of the Association. Proposals that result in useful information, services, products, or tools are strongly encouraged.

Any AAIDD member or group of members can submit an Action Plan Proposal by using the forms that appear on this web site. As you will see, the application forms include a purpose statement, brief description, contact person(s), funding requirements, and anticipated outcomes with timeframes. The application should be submitted directly to the Board of Directors through the national office. Upon Board approval, members who submitted the Action Plan will be authorized to further organize the initiative and involve other interested individuals. Each Action Plan group is expected provide a mechanism for other interested parties to become involved and work collaboratively on the issues, services or products. The AAIDD Board of Directors will provide project oversight and an Annual Progress Report is required.

BENEFIT

Through Action Plan groups and networks, many more members will be able to participate in the activities of the Association in ways that best utilize their talents and engage their interest. We also expect that AAIDD will be able to deliver many valuable services to our members, the field, and, most important, to people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

AN EXISTING EXAMPLE

An example of how Action Planning might work is provided by some very focused activities of the Health Promotion Coordinating Committee. In the past, this committee had been a Standing Committee with only seven members. It is now an Ad hoc Committee composed of many more members from a variety of professional disciplines.

Members of the committee came together for a specific purpose – to develop a Plan of Action to review the scientific evidence about health promotion for persons with intellectual disabilities. Grants were written and funding was obtained to hold a Pre-Conference Symposia in June 2004. The proceedings of the Symposia will be published by AAIDD in 2005. The committee is now working on another proposal to review methods to improve communication between health care providers and consumers with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, the former Standing Committee on Health Promotion recommended creating several new Ad hoc Workgroups including health promotion, environmental health, health communications, and health education and training. Now there is an opportunity for many more AAIDD members to become involved in health issues and health related activities.

Download Submission Forms