C1 - Paths to Equity: Parents in partnership with UCEDDs fostering Black family advocacy for children on the autism spectrum

This workshop will describe the efforts of two University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) to address disparities in access to diagnostic and higher quality services for Black neurodiverse children in Northern California and Wisconsin. This workshop will: (1) Describe programs and projects within each center that support advocacy and peer networking for Black families; (2) Provide first-person accounts from family members that document the UCEDDs’ impact on their respective advocacy journeys; (3) Delineate how each UCEDD partnered with Black families and community stakeholders to develop and plan programs that meet the unique interests and needs of the groups of Black families of autistic children within the cultural contexts of the communities in which they live; (4) Discuss the processes that each UCEDD underwent to evaluate the efficacy of their programs to ensure that they were uplifting principles of cultural and linguistic competence such as community and family engagement; and (5) Offer recommendations to improve current practice and create culturally competent and family-centered supports and services for disability systems and providers across the DD Network and beyond. Participants will come aways with an action plan to implement at their home organizations.