Public Comment Period: January 15 to February 28, 2026
View our Goals and Objectives or read our Goal Rationale in a separate downloadable document (links will open in a new browser tab or window)
2027-2031 Goals and Objectives Document English Marshallese Spanish
2027-2031 Goals and Objectives Rationale English Marshallese Spanish
Please complete our survey today! NOTE: Links will open in a new browser tab or window.
Click here to link to our survey and leave your comments.
or use your smartphone camera to scan the QR code below and access the survey
Public Comment Survey in Other Languages
Our public comment/feedback survey is a Google survey form. You can use Google Chrome to translate the document into other languages.
Click this link to download our How-To document for tips on how to view the survey in a variety of languages.
Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan Goals and Objectives 2026 Public Comment Period Announcement and Goal/Objective Rationale
Announcement
January 15, 2026
Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities
Little Rock, Arkansas
Opportunity of Public Feedback on GCDD’s 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan
Every five years, the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) submits a plan to the federal government focused on improving the quality of life for Arkansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families through inclusion and participation in all aspects of community life in the Natural State.
To develop the 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan, GCDD spent 2025 asking Arkansans with IDD and their families what mattered most to them. Council members and staff reviewed the input and drafted goals and objectives for the next five years. GCDD is now asking for public feedback on the 2027-2031 draft of the Five-Year Plan.
The Council is accepting feedback through February 28, 2026.
For questions, please email GCDD Executive Director Jonathan Taylor at: [email protected]
2027-2031 Five-Year Plan Goals and Objectives Rationale
The Arkansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities promotes integration, disability inclusion, and independence for Arkansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
The Council does this by identifying the most pressing needs of the IDD community in our state and addressing those needs by conducting outreach, fostering change, and supporting capacity-building efforts. To ensure the Council is focusing on issues that impact Arkansans with IDD and their families, we develop a Five-Year Plan to guide our work.
The first step is a Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment (CSNA). The Arkansas DD Network (The Council, University of Arkansas Partners, and Disability Rights Arkansas) worked together to gather feedback from people with IDD, their families, and IDD Service Providers.
The CNSA for the 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan was conducted in 2025 from January through August. During that period the DD Network Partners held 14 in-person Listening Sessions across the state, three Virtual Listening Sessions, 12 One-on-One interviews, and collected online surveys. The feedback gathered from the sessions, interviews, and surveys was used by the Council to create three Goals and six Objectives.
In addition to the CNSA feedback, the Council followed specific instructions from both the DD Act of 2000 and the Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Those instructions mandate the following activities to be included and worked each year of the State plan:
- Establish or strengthen a program for the direct funding of a self-advocacy organization in your State led by people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
- Support opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities who are considered leaders to provide leadership training to individuals with developmental disabilities who may become leaders.
- Support and expand participation of individuals with developmental disabilities in cross-disability and culturally diverse leadership coalitions.
These three required activities are directly addressed in Goal One of the 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan:
Goal One: People with developmental disabilities and their families will be active in advocacy activities that improve their lives, the lives of others and the service system.
Objective One: Each year of the five-year plan, the Council will provide support to build a statewide self-advocacy organization by increasing participation and leadership by self-advocates.
Objective Two: The Council will provide advocacy training for advocates, families, and allies by providing technical assistance and administrative support.
Objective Three: Each year of the Five-Year State Plan, the Council will increase opportunities for self-advocates who are leaders to train other self-advocates for leadership and increase opportunities for participation in cross-disability, culturally diverse organizations, activities and/or events.
________________________________________________________________________
During the DD Network Statewide Listening Sessions, a consistent barrier to accessing supports and services emerged. Families of children with IDD had very little understanding of the service system in Arkansas. Those who did understand it expressed significant frustration interfacing with it. That lack of understanding and frustration was also shared by adults with IDD who have transitioned out of the educational system.
A core theme in this broad lack of understanding was an absence of guidance from medical professionals, and to a lesser extent school personnel. The absence of guidance was especially evident when addressing Autism Spectrum Disorder. During an In-Person Listening Session, the Arkansas Autism Waiver program was mentioned. The parent of an eleven-year-old with ASD, asked “What is the Autism Waiver”? That parent’s child missed eleven potential years of services because none of the trusted professionals in her child’s life referred her to a well-established program.
That failure to refer is not due to professional malice or incompetence. It stems from a knowledge gap within the medical and educational communities about the wide array of services available to Arkansans with IDD and their families.
The data collected from Council surveys and Listening Sessions identified three broad age ranges and life phases of people with IDD:
- Birth to Five Years Old
- K-12
- Adults who have transitioned out of the educational system.
Based on community feedback, the medical and educational professionals whom these groups depend on lack educational and training opportunities to learn about people with IDD, the service system, and how best to serve them.
Birth to Five Years Old and Medical Professionals
While this is a large group, the Council can focus on the medical personnel that engage in direct patient care. The Council could work to educate that group about what IDD is, waiver and financial assistance programs, and how best to access them.
Also, throughout Arkansas many people in rural and non-rural communities use urgent cares and emergency rooms as their primary medical providers. The Council could work to educate those medical professionals about the service system options available to their patients.
K – 12 and Education Professionals
Like medical professionals, this is a large group. Based on input from the Listening Sessions, there is a need to create training materials for K-12 academic professionals about IDD and the service system. The Council should not focus efforts only on Special Education staff and Guidance Counselors. Classroom teachers come in contact with many students throughout their day and see students outside of Special Education. Even a high-level understanding of IDD and the service system could improve a student’s quality of life in and out of the classroom.
Adults Who Have Transitioned Out of the Educational System.
Finally, people with disabilities and their families described a post-educational “cliff” that exists after students with disabilities exit the school system. Families report that without a solid transition plan, their children with IDD face an uncertain future.
The support system that serves people with IDD is more than Medicaid Waiver. It is also the Vocational Rehabilitation program. Arkansas Rehabilitation Services plays a crucial role in the employment of people with IDD and transitioning students to life beyond K-12. That transition can be to Post-Secondary Education, employment, or both. The Council would have to ensure that any service system training that schools receive include a better understanding of the role ARS plays in a student’s future.
Listening session participants described feelings of isolation and loneliness. Adults with IDD consistently stated the majority of IDD inclusive activities in the community were geared towards children and families. Those adults yearned for other, age-appropriate activities to engage in.
Family members and other caretakers also expressed issues with isolation and loneliness. Physical and emotional “burnout” due to struggles accessing reliable, quality respite care was also a regular topic during the listening sessions.
Without meaningful social engagement opportunities outside of the home, many people with disabilities simply “exist”. Goal Two and its Objectives address these concerns.
Goal Two: People with Developmental Disabilities and their families will have improved access to community support and services.
Objective One: The Council will provide support to community partners to strengthen access to information, training, and education for Arkansans with developmental disabilities and their families about available programs and services within the State and about emergent issues affecting the Arkansas IDD community.
Objective Two: The Council will collaborate with community partners to reduce communication barriers when accessing supports and services for Arkansans with IDD.
________________________________________________________________________
Regardless of age, people with IDD expressed significant concerns around finding and keeping community-based employment. The comments received during the CSNA closely mirrored Arkansas Rehabilitation Services’ 2024-2027 Three-Year State Plan. The excerpt below from that State Plan aligns with the Council’s collected feedback:
“Key Findings for Individuals with Disabilities Who Have Been Underserved or Unserved:
Arkansas is a largely rural state, even with the recent population declines for the state’s rural areas. There was almost uniform consensus across constituency groups that a potentially underserved area/population for the state were rural areas…
Additionally, the environmental scan data revealed mental disorders represented a large portion of the disabled beneficiaries in the state. Internal and external respondents noted the need to provide services to those with developmental disabilities, cognitive impairments, and other mental health/‘invisible’ disabilities. Additionally, respondents noted additional potentially underserved Arkansas client populations could include those individuals requiring long-term support and extended services to maintain employment – primarily those within adult populations.”
Based on the responses to the CNSA and the detailed report for ARS, the Council will continue to focus on supported and competitive integrated employment in the 2027-2031 Five-Year Plan.
Goal Three: The Council will work to improve competitive, integrated employment of Arkansans with developmental disabilities.
Objective One: The Council will promote participation of people with IDD in activities to advocate for legislative and policy changes that lead to an increase in competitive, integrated employment.
Objective Two: The Council will help increase the capacity of service providers and educate employers to increase opportunities for competitive, integrated employment of Arkansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
About the State Plan Development Process
The Council began its State Plan Development cycle in September of 2024. The first step was to review GCDD’s progress with the current five-year plan. We also reviewed and assessed the services, supports, and other assistance available to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families through our State service system. The next step was to collect input directly from the community about what they needed to live their best lives. Based on what we learned, the Council drafted goals and objectives that will help our community to thrive.
We are now in the Public Comment Period.
5 Steps for Council State Plan Development
- Review Current Progress and the State of Services
- Gather Input from the Community on their Needs
- Draft Strategic Goals and Objectives for the Next 5 Years
- Public Comment Collection, Review and Adjustment
- Submit Plan to Federal Funder for Approval
Result Highlights from the Community Needs Assessment Campaign
In 2025, the Council and its DD Network partners conducted listening sessions, interviews, and collected online surveys to collect input from the community about the most pressing needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families across our state.
This helps us to ensure the Council is focusing its efforts on issues that are most important to our community. The input has been used to develop a Five-Year Plan for our activities in 2027-2031.
The Council members draft a plan based on the needs of the community and the ability of the GCDD to meet those needs
- Is it an appropriate activity for a state council on developmental disabilities?
- Is it possible considering the Council’s annual budget and staff level?
The Top 5 Results from our 2025 Community Needs Input are:
- Knowledge of and Access to Community Supports and Services
- Advocacy Supports and Training for Individuals and Families
- Health and Access to Healthcare
- Employment Supports and Opportunities
- Accessible Recreation and Social Connection Opportunities
