Program Overview

Institute on Disabilities

The Institute on Disabilities offers various programs and services, including:

• Assistive Technology
  • PA Tech Accelerator
  • Tech Accelerator Webinar Archive
  • AAC Awareness Month Webinar Series
  • Free Emergency Communication Aids
• Programs & Services
  • Advocacy
    • C2P2: Competence and Confidence Partners in Policymaking
    • Families First
    • FRIL: Families Reimagining Inclusive Lives
  • Community Integration and Supports
    • Supports Brokering
    • Home and Community Based Services
    • Participant-Directed Services
  • Media Arts & Culture
    • File Life Stories
    • Rhythm Bath
    • Visionary Voices
    • We Will Talk About These Days
  • Health Equity
    • Access to Care
    • Food Justice
    • Healthy Sexuality
    • Public Health Emergencies
  • Learning and Academics
    • College of Direct Support
    • College of Employment Services
    • Disability Studies
    • Graduate Assistantships
    • Deconstructing Racism and Ableism in the School-to-Prison Pipeline
    • Leadership & Career Studies
    • Mini Course Lecture Series on Disability
  • Public Policy
    • Public Policy Research
    • Three Tips for Meeting with Legislators
  • Technical Assistance
• Research & Evaluation
  • Participate in Research Studies
  • Research Opportunity Intake
  • Research Projects
    • Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment
    • Ethnography of Deinstitutionalization: The Closure of Hamburg State Center
    • Migration and Disability
    • Peer Support and Research Engagement for Young Adults with IDD
    • Racism, Ableism, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline
  • IM4Q
    • IM4Q Statewide Summary Reports
    • IM4Q Data: Examples
    • The Importance of IM4Q

Competence and Confidence Partners in Policymaking (C2P2)

Program Overview

C2P2 is a free leadership development training program for Pennsylvanians who are family members of a school-age child with an intellectual disability and/or autism, or adults with an intellectual disability and/or autism. The program selects highly motivated individuals who represent different ethnic backgrounds and are not already involved in advocacy organizations.

Program Details

• Participants learn about local, state, and national issues affecting people with disabilities from experts, self-advocates, or people with lived experience.
• Participants learn to foster a partnership between people who need supports and services and those who make policy and law.
• Participants learn to advocate for themselves and others.
• Participants learn to teach policymakers a new way of thinking about people with disabilities.
• C2P2 offers free meals, travel reimbursements, and lodging when applicable.
• C2P2 is funded by Pennsylvania's Office of Developmental Programs.

Participant Commitment

Participants make a commitment to attend a series of scheduled, multiple two-day trainings in sessions that are either virtual or in-person.