UMD CARES Project

UMD Commitment to Community-Engaged Autism Research and Equitable Services (CARES)

We are a group of researchers, clinicians, students, and faculty at the University of Maryland who are working to promote understanding, inclusion, and support for individuals on the autism spectrum with a focus on our diverse, local community of Prince George’s County. Autistic and autistic stakeholder voices are often not heard when developing research questions or services for autism. This problem is even greater in autistic communities of color who can have different challenges and needs, face greater barriers to receiving support, and are under-represented in research. With support from the Departments of Psychology and Hearing and Speech Sciences, we are addressing these problems at UMD in the following ways:

Organizing focus groups and interviews with diverse groups of autistic teenagers and parents from Prince George’s County
- We want to hear from you about your experiences! Go to: https://go.umd.edu/cQp
Increasing access to autism diagnosis and interventions.
- We lead training in the ADOS-2 diagnosis to increase the number of trained clinicians in the community
- We are working to reduce barriers and long waitlists for autism evaluations by partnering with the UMD Clinical Science program through a pilot autism evaluation program.
Developing an advisory board comprised of autistic individuals and stakeholders for ongoing and new projects to ensure partnership in our efforts
- Please contact us if you are interested!
Developing tools to raise awareness, understanding, and acceptance of autism in neurotypical communities