It's A Wonderful Life! Aging With Developmental Disabilities Conference
One of the main reasons individuals attended the 2006 It's A Wonderful Life! Aging With Developmental Disabilities Conference was for the unprecedented gathering of top-notch presenters, leaders, and experts in the field of aging with developmental disabilities.
Our Closing Keynote speaker, Tamar Heller, left the attendees inspired to manage change and capitalize on opportunities under the most challenging of circumstances; while breakout session presenters pointed attendees toward more effective ways to obtain desired results.
About Tamar Heller: Tamar Heller, Ph.D. (Center Director/Research Director/Projects R1.1 and R1.2 Principal Investigator) is a Professor and Head of the Disability and Human Development Department (DHD), University of Illinois at Chicago. She also directs the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities (RRTCADD) and projects on family support and health promotion interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Dr. Heller has written over 100 publications and presented over 150 papers at major conferences on the topics of aging and developmental disabilities. She has served on the boards of the American Association on Mental Retardation, the European Course on Mental Retardation, and the boards of several leading national and international journals on disability issues.
Conference attendees were impressed with our Opening Speaker, Matthew P. Janicki, Ph.D., a research associate professor of human development at the Institute of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and technical assistance director for the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center in Aging with Developmental Disabilities at the University. He is also research professor at the Center on Aging at the University of Maine in Orono. Formerly, he was director for aging and special populations for the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
About Matthew P. Janicki: He is the author of numerous books and articles in the area of aging, dementia, public policy, and rehabilitation with regard to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has lectured and provided training in aging and intellectual disabilities across the world. Dr. Janicki is the past-chair of the United States International Council on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and the past-chair of the aging special interest research group of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (IASSID). He serves on the Executive Committee of the IASSID as Treasurer and is the editor of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.
He is currently the principal investigator of a US government-funded project examining how families are aided by community agencies in support of adults with intellectual disabilities affected by Alzheimer's disease. He was the project director of an effort to provide the World Health Organization with a series of background reports on promoting longevity among adults with intellectual disabilities throughout the world and was recently the director of a project under the aegis of The Arc of the US which provided training and technical assistance to state and local aging agencies in supporting older parents and other carers of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live at home.
Special Guests:
We were pleased to welcome Secretary Helene Nelson to present the afternoon General Session on Thursday, September 14. In 2003, Governor Jim Doyle appointed Helene Nelson to lead the Department of Health and Family Services, one of the largest and most diverse state agencies in Wisconsin.
The Department promotes the health and safety of the people of Wisconsin with an array of public health, health care, and social services. Governor Doyle relies on Secretary Nelson to help implement his "KidsFirst" initiative, maintain the health care safety net, and develop ways to make health care more affordable.
Secretary Nelson is a seasoned public sector executive. She has served for five governors in various leadership capacities, including Deputy Secretary of the department she now leads.
About RFW:
RFW offers a variety of training and educational opportunities to its members and the rehabilitation community including Professional Development Seminars (PDS), an other special conferences and training events.
Rehabilitation For Wisconsin, Inc. (RFW) is a statewide nonprofit membership association located in Madison, Wisconsin. Our members consist of over 50 community rehabilitation programs. RFW members provide services that address the vocational, residential and community support needs of people with disabilities or other special needs. RFW provides leadership, advocacy, education and other services to its members and works to build strong partnerships between community rehabilitation programs, public policy makers and the community of people with disabilities in Wisconsin.
| Back to Top |