Mission
AAIDD promotes progressive policies, sound research, effective practices, and universal human rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Goals
AAIDD's goals are to:
- Enhance the capacity of professionals who work with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Promote the development of a society that fully includes individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities.
- Sustain an effective, responsive, well managed, and responsibly-governed organization.
Principles
AAIDD's principles (or core values) that guide the achievement of its goals relative to its mission are to:
- Cultivate and provide leadership in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities that encompasses a diversity of disciplines, cultures, and perspectives.
- Enhance the skills, knowledge, rewards, and conditions of people currently working in the field and encourage promising students to pursue careers in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Advance the assurance of all human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including equality, individual dignity, choice, and respect. Promote genuine accommodations to expand participation in all aspects of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, opportunities for choice and self-determination, and access to quality health, education, vocational, and other human services and supports.
- Influence positive attitudes and public awareness to contributions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Establish partnerships and strategic alliances with organizations that share our values and goals.
Diversity
AAIDD is committed to fostering diversity among its leaders and members. The AAIDD Board of Directors greatly values diverse perspectives and experiences. Examples of diversity include, but are not limited to, disability, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
gender, age, religion, geographical location, social or economic disadvantage, or other attributes/characteristics that may contribute to diverse perspectives.