Cal State LA Minor in Developmental Disabilities
Project Description
The Developmental Disabilities (DD) minor degree program prepares highly qualified personnel to populate the systems specific to supporting individuals with special needs across the lifespan. It serves as a pathway to provide students within their major degree programs to assimilate information about people with developmental disabilities as a sub-population they may encounter in their discipline practice. This program also prepares students to join the workforce of the developmental disabilities service system. Students acquire disability-specific knowledge, values and principles which drive services, are exposed to and develop beginning skills to serve individuals with DD and their families, and explore professions in the DD field as they consider and plan their career pathway.
Cal State LA is uniquely positioned to address this need due to their diverse student population, from which the Minor in DD can recruit interested candidates. As well as developing workforce candidates who possess the capacity to effectively design, deliver, lead, and advocate for systems change within the DD system, Cal State LA students completing the Developmental Disabilities minor degree program will help to diversity the DD workforce so it mirrors the racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity of the DD population.
Important Things to Know
- 1 in 6 children between the ages of 3 and 17 have one or more developmental disabilities
- An estimated 4 million Americans have an intellectual or developmental disability
- As large congregate institutions for people with disabilities close and people with DD move into the community, human service personnel working in generic service systems (e.g., health care, social services, foster, care, criminal justice, housing, urban development) will encounter and be expected to competently serve this sub-population
- There is a national need to diversify the DD workforce with professionals who reflect the ethnic diversity of the people they serve
Additional Information
Barbara Wheeler, PhD, RN, Project Lead
Funding: University Contract
Project Duration: 2014 - 2016
Collaborator: College of Health and Human Services, California State University, Los Angeles
