Invitational Symposium on Best Practices in Decision Making Support

Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, the Council on Quality and Leadership and the Burton Blatt Institute are sponsoring a one-day invitational symposium on Best Practices in Supported Decision-Making.

Hosted by: American University, Washington College of Law
Location: 4801 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20016

The goals of the symposium are:

  • To promote a national and international conversation about the promise and potential of Supported Decision-Making as a less restrictive alternative to guardianship.
  • To identify critical policy and practice issues to advance Supported Decision-Making across the life span and the spectrum of disability.
  • To identify the next generation of research questions that build the evidence for the impact of varied Supported Decision-Making models.
  • To examine from an individual and family perspective how to balance risk and individual rights.
  • To identify and define from a legal perspective what are appropriate elements of effective representation and what factors determine appropriate cases.

Invited guests will include national and international leaders, policy makers and thinkers including people needing support and their families. Special guest Margaret “Jenny” Hatch will share her recent personal experience and vision for the future.

The presentations and facilitated discussions will create a roadmap to change thinking and behavior at an individual and systems level that promotes individual autonomy, abilities, preferences, and justice. Your participation will inform future activities through legal representation, self-advocacy, continuing education and training, policy development, and needed research.

For more information and to RSVP please contact Tina Campanella at  or Jonathan Martinis at  .