Deadline: December 21, 2008

The Conference will be held in New Orleans from June 10 -12, 2009. Conference participants will include practitioners, researchers, teaching faculty, policymakers, funders, and advocates.

Enviable Lives: The Business Plan. Often people with various intellectual and developmental disabilities are marginalized by society. As practitioners, researchers, teaching faculty, students, service providers, policymakers, funders, and advocates, we have worked to change society to create enviable lives for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The question that remains is how to do this for each and every person with an intellectual or developmental disability. Hence the need for a discussion of a business plan to accomplish this.

The purpose of the conference is to create a forum for the sharing of expertise and ideas on areas important to creating enviable lives, a sharing that will continue past the actual dates of the conference. Established leaders in the field are being asked to participate in the roundtables at the interactive cafes so that newer professionals can interact with them and each other in a casual setting.

The schedule has times for plenary sessions, panel presentations, workshops, and interactive cafes. Interactive cafes will include posters, exhibitors, a resource center, and a roundtable with a known leader on the topic of that particular interactive cafe. There also will be action planning sessions around the major topics areas where participants can network for future action and collaborate on the conference topics as well as connect in a casual setting with other experienced leaders.

Primary topics:

• Employment - is about contributing, feeling successful, and having income through work
• Communication - is about people sharing their needs and dreams and also being able to connect to other people through sharing
• Emergency Preparedness - is about being ready for whatever emergency reaches ones community
• Assistive Technology - is about all the technology that can help people be more independent and in control of their own lives
• Housing - is about creating home ownership and cooperative housing arrangements
• Education - is about, as a child, receiving teaching that helps one learn the skills to be ready to live a full, inclusive life and transition successfully to the adult world
• Quality - is about how we measure if we are creating enviable lives for people we serve
• Life Connections - is about social interaction including spirituality, friendships, and intimate relationships
• Families - is about the love and support people receive from their families and what their families need to make this work though out their lives
• Health and wellness - is about taking care of one's body
• Managing agencies - is about how to lead and support agencies that help people we serve create enviable lives
• Self-determination - is about directing one's own life

If we have missed key topics, please feel free to submit on a topic you feel is important to people living enviable lives.