Transcript of ICI Welcome Video
Robert Bruininks: I founded ICI, primarily out of a belief that the University and its people had a great deal to offer to the development of services for people with disabilities in our society.
Sue Swenson: The Institute on Community Integration has a unique strength in being seen as having more understanding of how community programs work for folks with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities. It's not real regimented. It's not like there's, you know, some guy in charge who tells everybody else what to do. There's, I don't know, a hundred and fifty, couple hundred people, each of whom are exploring some of the ideas that they're really interested in.
David Johnson: The institute is organized around four specific parts of the life cycle of individuals with disabilities. We start first with early childhood. We operate with school-age young people as well as individuals in K12 programs throughout Minnesota and nationally. The third area focuses on transition and employment services for adolescents who are preparing to leave public school. The fourth area is adult and community services which has been a very core part of the institute's programming since its inception, even before its inception.
Scott McConnell: CEED's involvement or CEED's participation and collaboration with ICI is, I think, a really nice example of inclusion. If you're interested in young kids, one of the groups of kids that shows up are kids who have special needs, including kids with disabilities. If you're interested in how kids with disabilities spend their time, you have to think about inclusive environments.
Jean Ness: What we do at ICI that is a little different than other projects at ICI is all of my work focuses on working with American Indian high school and college students. High school students helping them stay in high school, find interest in high school and set goals for themselves for after high school. So, heavy transition activities. At Fond du Lac tribal and community college one of our specific projects is to look at developing a four-year degree program in sustainable development and we're focusing on four areas: small business entrepreneurship, clean energy, sustainable development, and planning and law in American Indian communities.
Robert Bruininks: This is one of the most dynamic organizations on the university campus, where research, education, and the commitment to the public good come together in a truly meaningful way.
Amy Hewitt: The Institute on Community Integration is really a place that inspires people to learn and to try out things differently. The College of Direct Support is a wonderful example of that because when we were creating our vision, the capacity of the Internet and having high speed was not really there yet. It was there for only a handful of people. With our partners we took that vision and really pushed the limit of the technology four to five years ago so that today end-users could really be using a product that was of the highest quality.
Bob Gettings: I think the work of the Institute on Community Integration has been an enormous help to the field because it has created a bridge between the traditional academic disciplines and the people that are engaged in direct service and support the people with disabilities.
Hunter Sargent: I have FASD, which is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. That was caused during... my mom drank when she was pregnant with me. I'm a public speaker on fetal alcohol syndrome. I currently serve on the Arc of Hennepin Carver as well as Arc Minnesota Board of Directors. At ICI, I am an office assistant. I like ICI because they see me as a person but they also acknowledge my abilities and inabilities as well.
Sue Swenson: ICI is one of the great resources. It's a place where you can go and get a little package of invention off the shelf. You can go and sit down and work with people on a project, talk to people about your needs and have some of the best minds in the country really then pick up your problem and say "Hmm, what could we do about that? How could we do that differently? How could we think about this differently?"
Charlie Lakin: One of the important things about working here is that you do work with people in the community: people with disabilities, advocacy organizations, organizations that are really leading new visions and new opportunities. And it's just really hard not to be caught up in the excitement of that social change.
Greg Lais: We have a rich and varied history with ICI, going back probably fifteen years. It really involves research, evaluation, and a lot of training programs. Having ICI just literally three blocks away has been a tremendous advantage for us. It's been that blend of the practical side with the latest research and the latest academic side that has come together. You know, it's a situation where, you know, two plus two equals six.
John Smith: I have been involved in so many really interesting and enjoyable projects. Probably one of the things I enjoy most is being out in community places, visiting families in their homes, really talking to people that are making a difference for people with disabilities.
Amy Hewitt: No matter the topic, our reality is to change reality and so we work really hard to create an inspiring vision of how things should or could be and then we push systems in different ways, either through demonstration or through data, to change toward the direction that we've identified.
Charlie Lakin: We've rode along on a real wave of change over the years. It's been great fun and hopefully we've been useful.
Robert Bruininks: ICI will continue to be youthful. It will never reach middle age. It will constantly find new energy, new frontiers, new issues to confront because it has this sort of spirit of innovation, this deep and enormous commitment to really making the world a much better place for people who need really some extra assistance and support.
Scott McConnell: As we look forward, I think one of the things that we have to realize is that our history is important. Our history is a really critical foundation, but in a very important way it doesn't really tell us what comes next, it doesn't really constrain us about what comes next. The history is a great foundation for a future that's still fairly uncertain.