Ep 142: Charting the LifeCourse: Empowering Individuals with IDD and Families Across the Lifespan

Sheli Reynolds, a longtime professional and family advocate in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), discusses her work at a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and the creation of the Charting the LifeCourse Framework. Drawing on both her professional experience and her role as a sibling of a person with a developmental disability, Reynolds explains how the framework was designed to help individuals with IDD and their families plan for a meaningful life across the lifespan using plain language, high expectations, and a broad view of supports beyond paid services. She describes how LifeCourse is used nationwide by families, self‑advocates, schools, service systems, and state agencies to support person‑ and family‑centered thinking, and emphasizes the importance of seeing people with disabilities as whole persons, involving self‑advocates directly in professional learning, and supporting families without pity while promoting dignity, choice, and health equity.