AFDSRC NEWS JULY 2007
Congratulations and sad farewells
Dr Anne Honey has just been awarded an Australian Post-graduate scholarship titled Strengthening families of young people with mental health problems. This is a wonderful testament to Anne's works as these scholarships are highly competitive. Congratulations Anne.
It is with mixed feelings we announce that, David McConnell, Executive Director of AFDSRC, was offered and accepted an Associate Professorship at the University of Alberta. This is a wonderful opportunity for David to further his research. Although all on the AFDSRC team miss his energy and insights in day-to-day interactions, we continue to collaborate with David in our research. David continues to be a valuable member of the AFDSRC network. We wish David and his family all the best in this venture.
Welcome
We are very pleased to announce that Professor Eric Emerson has been appointed Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Eric will spend 9 weeks here, working with AFDSRC and other researchers. He brings extensive experience and knowledge to our team.
International visitors
The past few months have been busy and very stimulating with a parade of internationally renowned researchers visiting AFDSRC at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Some of our visitors include Professor Rannveig Traustadottir from the University of Iceland, and Associate Professor Borgunn Ytterhus and Professor Jan Tossebro from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Already a number of are projects are taking shape…keep watching this website.
In August we look forward to two international visitors; AFDSRC will host an extended visit by Dr Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir and the Disability Initiative will host Associate Professor Robert Didden. Dr Sigurjonsdottir is assistant professor in Education and the Department of Social Sciences, University of Iceland. Associate Professor in Developmental Disabilities at the Department of Special Education, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Events
During his visit, Associate Professor Didden will conduct a lecture and run a half day workshop at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe. For more information on the lecture titled Sleep and Sleep Problems for People with Developmental Disabilities: Prevalence, Risk factors and Treatment and the workshop, An introduction into Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) in Behavioural Problems in Individuals with Developmental Disability please contact Sally Clendon or Angela Dew.
New projects
Congratulations to Angela Dew on winning an Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry). Angela’s thesis, The Transition of care from ageing parents: achieving flexible relationships between adults with cerebral palsy, their siblings and service providers, has evolved in part from previous AFDSRC studies such as Siblings of adults with developmental disability. Angela is undertaking her PhD with Associate Professor Sue Balandin and Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn as supervisors.
Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn has been successful in the most recent rounds for the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) ARC/NHMRC Research Network Program. The project, Achieving better health outcomes for youth with chronic health conditions: A pan disciplinary approach, brings together an international collaboration of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
Upcoming International Conferences
The Nordic Network on Disability Research 9th Research conference is being held in Goteborg Sweden, 10-12 May 2007. AFDSRC is presenting a number of papers around our projects titled Maintaining family-base placements for children and young people with disabilities and Healthy Start: A national strategy for children of parents with learning difficulties.
Stop press
The McConnell and Llewellyn article Stereotypes, parents with intellectual disability and child protection¹ was cited in a January 2007 petition (Petition for a Writ of Certiorari) requesting that the US Supreme Court review a determination by the Rhode Island Supreme Court. The petition challenges the Rhode Island Supreme Court opinion that proceedings regarding parental rights are for the benefit of the child not the parent; therefore, such proceedings are not governed by quoted sections of the American with Disability Act.
Specifically, the petitioner cites the McConnell & Llewellyn paper to illustrate discrimination of parents with intellectual disability as demonstrated by the higher rate of removing their children.
¹ David McConnell & Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Stereotypes, Parents with Intellectual Disability and Child Protection, 24 J. SOC. WELFARE & FAM. L. 297 (2002)
