April is Autism Awareness Month, so it's a great time to talk about our effort to concentrate on individuals with co-occurring diagnoses at our convention in July!

This year, we are fortunate to collaborate with the Down Syndrome-Autism Connection to offer a 4 hour pre-conference (What Autism Looks Like in a Child with Down Syndrome), along with five 90 minute workshops throughout the convention weekend. Complex behaviors, developmental issues, sleep difficulties, family experiences...all of these and more will be discussed. View this PDF for all the details about these learning opportunities.

In January of this year, Ethan Saylor, a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome died while being restrained by off duty law enforcement officers. If you're not familiar with this case, Ethan was attending a movie at a local theater in Frederick County, MD -- a place he visited quite often. When he refused to leave the theater after the movie ended, and while his caregiver had gone to get their car, mall security was called, and Ethan was restrained face-down. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, but in March, a grand jury failed to indict anyone in Ethan's death.

The NDSC is still reeling from the sequence of events that led to this tragic ending. We believe more information is needed to not only sort out Ethan's case, but also to prevent incidents like this one from happening in the future. We have asked for an independent investigation by the Department of Justice. You can join other parents and concerned citizens in asking for an investigation, by signing this online petition created and brought to our attention by a parent of a child with Down syndrome. 

We will continue to work with fellow advocates in the Down syndrome community to develop and distribute a best practices training program for law enforcement and other first responders. You can get more information about the work we are doing by participating in a Town Hall meeting hosted by NDSS and NDSC on Tuesday, April 23, at 12:00 PM ET. Attendees will have the opportunity to voice questions and concerns.  You can join the Town Hall by dialing 1-877-410-5657 and using the following passcode: 69126. 

We can't help but wonder how this outcome could have changed if one of the police officers or another patron in the theater had a personal relationship with someone with Down syndrome. We will continue to keep you informed of our efforts in this ongoing work.

NDSC is a partner with The Arc of the United States in their HealthMeet™ program. Not only can you register to take part in free and informative webinars as they happen, you can also go back and listen to webinars in the archive. (Visit the website for complete information.)

On Wednesday, May 15, NDSC will be joining with the ARC to bring you Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Dementia: Assessment and Healthcare Practices. Presenter Dr. Seth Keller will address this topic as it specifically relates to Down syndrome. This topic is tremendously important to our community and we know you'll learn a lot by participating. For more information about registering for this webinar, visit the HealthMeet™ website here.