Blog Home
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Meeting People
Apr 4th, 2012 by | No Comments YetNASDDDS and HSRI staff spent some time this past winter travelling to and fro and visiting states that have recently joined NCI. These visits included interviewer trainings, getting great advice from self-advocates, meeting hard-working state staff, and checking out some hidden jewels in some of this nation’s most interesting state capitals (including the state house in Richmond, taxi cab drivers in Columbia, and Clara’s Restaurant in Lansing).
On the work-related front:
- In Connecticut, we heard from many self-advocates who had previous experience in administering the adult consumer survey back when the state was last in NCI in 2008. They gave great advice to us and the other interviewers. In particular, one young lady asked us all to place ourselves in the shoes of the person being interviewed- to think how it would feel for a stranger to come into your home or place of work and already know so much personal information about you. Most of us would probably be nervous, so this young lady stressed how important it is for the interviewers to make the individual feel comfortable and to explain in clear detail what the survey is all about.
- On a lighter note, in South Carolina a couple of interviewers who had previous experience administering the consumer surveys told us some of their more hilarious experiences. One woman described how she was conducting a survey on someone’s front porch and for whatever reason the chair she was sitting in starting to sink close to the ground. This interviewer was unaware however and the only thing she noticed was it seemed like the individual across from her was rising and then levitating. Another young woman told the story of showing up for a survey in a rural community and after ringing the house bell, the door opens and a rooster comes running out past her and into the yard.
Who said that NCI can’t be entertaining.
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New and Improved NCI Website Released
Feb 12th, 2012 by | No Comments YetEureka! After almost a year and half of blood, sweat, and tears (the blood and sweat metaphorically), the new and improved NCI website is up and running. HSRI and NASDDDS staff had meetings, discussions, ideas, more meetings, changed ideas, met some more, reverted back to original ideas, and finally made decisions. We also learned more technical geeky programming jargon than most of us ever wanted to. A big "thank you" to our wonderful web developers Steady Vision who created what we think is an interesting, informative website.
So we hope you can take the new site out for a spin. Create your own chart of NCI data filter by state, type of residence, year, and many others; take a look see at your state's public page to access their most recent state reports; and of course, check out the most recent NCI Blog post.
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NCI at AFP Conference
Dec 4th, 2011 by | No Comments YetHSRI and NASDDDS staff attended the annual meeting of the Alliance for Full Participation entitled, “Summit 2.0- Real Jobs- It’s Everyone’s Business” with the goal to “find solutions to the challenges facing increasing integrated employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” We were out in force to display NCI as prominently as we could, and were ecstatic that so many state workers, providers, university researchers, parents, and self-advocates were interested in NCI data or already knew about it being used in their state. Some people even came by to say "hi" to us at the HSRI/NASDDDS booth (see below- what it lacked in high-tech electronics and design was made up with the sparkling wit and personalities of the staff).
This conference was unique in that self-advocates could not only learn about employment policies and practices across the country, but could get more practical assistance including getting advice on how to find a job, learning how to conduct themselves on an interview, and even have a resume made for them on the spot. Self-advocates handing out their resumes and business cards was a wonderful sight to be seen and hopefully these conferences will see much more networking in the future.
For more information on this conference, please visit the AFP website at http://www.allianceforfullparticipation.org/. Additionally, be on the lookout for three new NCI Data Briefs on employment (one of which presented at the conference) which will be released over the next few weeks.
