Welcome to the 2020 TASH Conference - Virtual Edition website! We’re so glad you are here!
Each year, the TASH Conference brings together individuals with significant disabilities and their allies to share resources and success stories, learn about field-driven best practices, and network within a community engaged in shared values. The conference is attended by passionate advocates, leaders, and subject matter experts from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees play an important role in supporting individuals with significant disabilities to overcome various barriers in order to live their best lives. Central to this work is the premise that individuals reach their optimal potential only when they are given the opportunity to live, work and thrive across the lifespan in the same communities we are all members of. The conference is intentionally designed to support the interests of professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; home and community-based service providers; students, family members, and most importantly, self-advocates with lived experience.
This year, while we are taking the conference virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that our unique approach to providing exceptional first-rate content and building strong community ties and connections across various stakeholders will yield an extraordinary event! We have taken extra steps to bring people closer together during these times, as well as to create an amazing virtual environment that expands our knowledge, spurs our creative thinking, and focuses on healthy living and having fun! Our conference theme, Feel the Power of Inclusion, reinforces the importance of our continued commitment to promoting a world of equity and opportunity for all, and is predicated on the value of bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences in an effort to build strong human connectivity and spur collective action.
Need technical assistance during the conference? Please email our support staff at helpdesk@tash.org.
The use of technology provides opportunities to address many of the challenges of staff shortages, limited resources, and geography often experienced with supported and customized employment services. This type of service delivery is even more relevant today during the COVID-19 pandemic, as evolving to a virtual supports platform is essential to meet the needs of supported workers, the businesses who employ them, the job coaches providing assistance, and the providers who are struggling with traditional service reimbursement models. With funding from the Kessler Foundation, a multi-state collaborative came together to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of real time training and technical assistance to support workers, employers, and job coaches. Virtual supports included the use of cell phones, iPads, and GoPro cameras to provide training and support for job coaches, behavioral interventions on the job, and long-term job coaching services and supports.
