2024 TASH Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome to the official website for the 2024 TASH Conference!

Each year, the TASH Conference brings together our constituents to share resources and success stories, learn about field-driven best practices, and network within a community engaged in shared values. The Conference is attended by passionate leaders, experts, and advocates from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees are influential in their fields and communities, and play an important role in the provision of services and supports for individuals and organizations around the world; and include professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; self-advocates, adult service providers; students, family members, and many others. This year’s conference theme is Celebrate Together: Let the Good Times Roll!

Click on the "Registration and More" tab for additional information about our Conference location, registration, reserving a guest room, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, and more! The full Conference schedule is now available for viewing. Registered attendees will receive an invitation to log in and create a personalized schedule.

2:30pm CST

Factors Influencing Expectations For Post-School Outcomes: A Scoping Review

Friday December 6, 2024 2:30pm - 4:30pm CST

3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin E

Although research documents an association between low expectations and poor community living and participation (CLP) outcomes for individuals with ID, there remains a gap in understanding which factors most impactfully influence expectations; a gap that prevents an advancement of meaningful and effective policies and strategies in support of positive CLP outcomes. Further, research on CLP outcomes commonly excludes individuals with/family members of individuals with ID- thereby limiting an understanding of those most influential/impacted by low expectations and diminished CLP outcomes. Disentangling research on the factors that influence CLP expectations has the potential to enhance CLP outcomes by highlighting the factors that should be maximized to enhance expectations or addressed to minimize low expectations.

Presenters

Grace Francis

Assistant Professor, Special Education, George Mason University

Friday December 6, 2024 2:30pm - 4:30pm CST
3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin E Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

TASH Talks

Primary Topic Transition
Themes of Interest High Expectations
Key Words Community Living, Participation, Intellectual Disability, Expectations, Factors
Presentation Type Research

3:25pm CST

Community Living in California- Is Equity Still Achievable?

Friday December 6, 2024 3:25pm - 4:20pm CST

4TH Floor - Imperial 5C

We began to provide personalized community living supports in the early 1990's, when people were able to rent, lease, and/or obtain housing vouchers to access a home of their own with the supports they needed. Over the past ten years, opportunities for housing vouchers have become relatively non-existent in CA, rent prices no longer allow people who rely on SSI/SSDI benefits alone to afford rent. The only people able to move into a home of their own now must have a "silver spoon"; (funding from family, sustainable employment, or other secure financing). This creates a huge divide between the "haves' and the "have nots". Adults continue to live with their aging parents. Alternative community living options options have become more restrictive, reverting back to congregate, segregated options, which goes against our philosophy of full inclusion at TASH. We will facilitate a discussion on the FUTURE of Community Living and how we can get the good times rolling again!

Presenters

Scott Shepard

Director, Avenues Supported Living Services

Scott Shepard is the Executive Director of Avenues Supported Living Services, a non-profit agency which provides community living and personalized day supports to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in North Los Angeles County. With Avenues SLS, we had the opportunity... Read More →

Friday December 6, 2024 3:25pm - 4:20pm CST
4TH Floor - Imperial 5C Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Community Living
Themes of Interest Housing
Key Words Equity, Legislative Advocacy, California for All (except us?), Community Living, Housing, DSP Wages vs. Fast Food Wages
Presentation Type General

8:45am CST

Looking at Quality Services - How Do We Know?

Saturday December 7, 2024 8:45am - 9:45am CST

4TH Floor - Imperial 8

How do we know the services we are providing are what people really want? How do we know people are getting not just what they need but what they want? TLC has embarked on a quest to answer these questions. We have invited an independent team to come and spend a week with the people receiving services investigating these questions. Using a mixture of mediums (art, observation, story telling, group chats and 1:1 discussions), the team will "interview" people. TLC is interested in truly understanding how effective we are in supporting people to live the lives they need and want. This information, along with surveys of staff and families will be a part of our planning for the future of the agency. We are excited to share our process, how it went and what we learned. Representatives from TLC and the independent team will share their experiences.

Moderators

Jennifer Lengyel

Executive Director, Total Living Concept

Presenters

Nanette Vanderford

Total Living Concept

Sheldon Schwitek

Co-Founder/ Consultant, In the Company of Others

Sheldon Schwitek has been supporting individuals with complex behavioural needs in the United Statesb and in Canada for over decades. He was introduced to the founding members of the Marsha Forest Center in 1990 and became a facilitator of the person-centered processes of MAPS, PATH... Read More →

Saturday December 7, 2024 8:45am - 9:45am CST
4TH Floor - Imperial 8 Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Community Living
Themes of Interest Person Centered Practice
Key Words Quality Assurance, Person Centered, Community Living, Listening Service Provision
Presentation Type General

3:00pm CST

"Well, THAT Will Never Work!"

Saturday December 7, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm CST

3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin A

Parents who barrier-busted obstacles to ensure full inclusion throughout their now adult daughter's lifespan, discuss Johnâ€™s recent admission to Kathy about his lack of faith in their ability to break down those barriers. He never shared this before because he wanted to be supportive of her vision and efforts. This presentation shows how our own attitudinal barriers can be as impactful as the systemic barriers that face people who have disabilities. His thoughts eventually evolved into a paradigm shift as successes accumulated. Barrier-elimination became the norm. Alexa benefited by attending regular classes in schools, accessing needed technology, a wheelchair lift on the regular bus, skating in her chair at the ice rink, using a power beach chair, being a statistician of a girls' ice hockey team, attending college, becoming employed, owning a vehicle a home of her own, and more. Stories, steps taken, lessons learned, and how other families can do the same will be shared.

Presenters

Kathy Brill

Owner, Brill Consulting LLC

John Brill

Parent

Saturday December 7, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm CST
3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin A Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Community Living
Themes of Interest High Expectations
Key Words Problem-Solving, Self-Determination, Inclusion, Community Living, Parenting, Civil Rights
Presentation Type General