05/20/2026
The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities (ICDD) develops a Five-Year State Plan to improve the independence, productivity, integration, and inclusion of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) and their families across Illinois. The plan is designed to meet the requirements of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act) and focus ICDD resources on systems change efforts that improve lives statewide.
To develop this draft framework, ICDD gathered input from self-advocates, families, community partners, providers, state agencies, and other leaders across Illinois. Research and the Council’s statewide systems work, combined with this community input, made clear that individuals with DD and their families continue to face barriers in self-advocacy, leadership access, employment, housing, behavioral health, service coordination, and crisis response.
Individuals and families consistently emphasized the need for stronger leadership pathways, a greater voice in shaping systems priorities, more responsive supports, and improved coordination across public systems.
The priorities reflected in the draft State Plan were further refined through the Council’s goal mapping process and organized into two major focus areas: Individual and Family Advocacy (IFA) and Systems Change (SC).
The IFA goal focuses on strengthening self-advocacy, leadership development, and lived experience so individuals with DD, families, and allies can shape cross-disability and systems change efforts. The SC goal focuses on strengthening the support systems that impact daily life, including employment, community living, behavioral health, service access, and responsiveness to emerging needs.
Public comment closes on Monday May 24th.
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