Home of Redlands Partners

Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Leadership

We provide individualized and team learning opportunities for professionals and community members interested in disability issues, learning and leadership.

The Center for Learning and Leadership is located at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, College of Medicine. Center faculty and staff work across the state through teaching and learning partnerships with Oklahoma Colleges and Universities, local and state agencies, advocacy organizations, people with disabilities, family members of people with disabilities and interested others.

Oklahoma's Center is associated with a national network of 60 federally designated Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service across the nation. We are a member in good standing of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.

Our Mission...is to work in partnership with the citizens of Oklahoma to ensure the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities and their families in all aspects of community life. We achieve this mission by providing interdisciplinary education, community training, evaluating outcomes, conducting research projects, and sharing information about emerging needs and lessons learned about effective practices statewide and nationally.

Interdisciplinary Education

o Shared learning sessions that bring students and faculty from many fields together.

o Providing interdisciplinary pre-service education opportunities for students from various academic disciplines and inservice education for professionals already working in jobs that interface with people with disabilities and their families is a priority for the Center faculty and staff.

Community Training

o Learning opportunities for any community member with an interest in the topic.

o We offer community training for families, self-advocates, service providers and others who want to enhance their information about disability issues and their skills in working to improve access to services and resources.

Dissemination

o Sharing information on best practices and useful tools or lessons learned.

o By sharing information about developmental disability issues with state policy makers and national audiences we teach and learn about new discoveries about specific conditions and effective system designs that improve outcomes for people. Our monthly newsletter, focus facts, is distributed to over 1600 people. Staff share best practice information as they present at state and national conferences. The Center produces a variety of training documents and awareness materials that are handed out through workshops, trainings and educational programs.

Consumer Involvement

o Including people with disabilities and family members as co-teachers and co-trainers.

o The Center involves people with disabilities and families both as advisors and as staff. Adults with disabilities, self-advocates and family members work as our partners to identify statewide needs for training and systems change.