Presidential Address: Promoting Health and Wellness.
Treat health and exercise as programmed targets, not nice-to-have extras, in every IDD support plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Havercamp (2017) is a presidential speech, not an experiment.
The author told the field to stop treating health as a side note for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The paper lays out why wellness must be baked into every support plan from day one.
What they found
No new data were collected.
The takeaway: if we do not plan for health, we plan to fail.
The speech urges teams to add exercise, nutrition, and medical care goals right next to behavior goals.
How this fits with other research
Moya et al. (2022) extends this call. After COVID-19 hit, people with IDD lost services and died at higher rates. Their paper says the 2017 warning came true; health planning can no longer wait.
Moss et al. (2008) offered a similar but narrower fix. They sketched a primary-care toolkit for adults with developmental disabilities. Havercamp (2017) widens the lens, saying wellness belongs in every corner of life, not just the doctor’s office.
Carter (2010) asked the field to balance self-direction with smart use of funds. Havercamp (2017) answers: make wellness one of the funded pillars, not an extra families must buy on their own.
Why it matters
You can act today. Open any ISP and add a health goal—maybe 15 minutes of walking before therapy or a water cup within reach. These tiny lines turn wellness from a slogan into a tracked, reinforced behavior.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add one measurable wellness goal—like ‘completes 10 chair stands after lunch’—to the next client’s plan and track it with praise or tokens.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
I am honored and humbled to stand before you as the incoming president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. I must tell you how much I value the AAIDD community. I feel that AAIDD is my professional home. Over the years of coming to the conference and getting involved in the association, I have come to know admired colleagues and, though I always look forward to the scientific content presented at the meetings, this conference is my favorite time of year because I can reconnect with friends, many of whom I only see here. I encourage you to get involved in this organization. AAIDD offers great opportunities to pursue interest networks and regional connections and leadership roles in the field of intellectual and developmental disability.I am excited to talk with you today about a topic that is central to the lives of people with disabilities and their families, yet rarely considered in service planning. I believe that health and wellness are critical to quality of life. I was excited to plan this 2017 AAIDD meeting with a focus on promoting health and wellness. I enjoyed so many conversations at this conference about individual and systems change efforts to make it easier for people with developmental disabilities to live healthy lives. I'd like to share a story that resonates with me and the health promotion theme of this conference. This was taken from a Joseph Malins poem circa 1895 but well describes the current dilemma in developmental disabilities (DD) services and society writ large. The poem is called The Ambulance Down in the Valley.‘Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;But over its terrible edge there had slippedA duke, a prince, and full many a peasant.So the people said something would have to be done,But their projects did not at all tally;Some said, “Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff,
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-55.6.365