The LiveWorkPlay Annual Family Conference event started in 2006 with "Self-Advocacy In Action." The goal on that occasion was to work with youth and adults with intellectual disabilities and their parents to find ways to move from talking about self-advocacy to doing self-advocacy: making real changes to support a good life.

UPDATE! LiveWorkPlay now offers multiple one-day conference events that are open to the public. See our events page for details.

This initial Family Conference event was deemed successful by all concerned, and became the foundation for many individuals and families to take action and improve their lives. For some highlights from the 2006 conference drop by the Self-Advocacy web page!

The 2008 LiveWorkPlay Family Conference event developed into one of the more serious discussions in recent memory. The topic was "Rights and the Law" and there were many moving stories about damaging personal experiences. Special thanks to lawyer Heather Perkins-McVeigh for sharing her perspective and answering many challenging questions about how people with intellectual disabilities and their family members can be better prepared for interactions with law enforcement and the justice system.

The 2007 conference was billed as "A Good Life Includes Sexuality" and the goal was to engage youth and adults members and their parents in a wide-ranging discussion about sexuality. This included everything from healthy communication to legal rights and personal values.

The boys/men and girls/women had their own breakout session, as did parents. Some of the interesting results were as follows:

• Many male participants had great difficulty identifying their own values about issues of sexuality, preferring instead to state the beliefs of their parents, particularly that of their mother where applicable
• The female participants had endless questions, so many in fact that in order to provide adequate answers the original agenda could not be followed through to its conclusion
• Parents were motivated to explore ways to better support their children to enjoy a life with healthy sexuality; they readily indentified their fears and uncertainties but also indicated interest and willingness to find ways to get past those barriers and/or to find other people and resources who can help their children enjoy life as sexual beings

The key outcome from 2007 was identifying that more needs to be done. The participants were just warming up and getting truly comfortable with the topic by the time the day was over!