Beach Center on Disability - Family Resources
Overview
The Beach Center on Disability was founded in 1988 by Rud and Ann Turnbull, then faculty members in Special Education, to conduct research and carry out training and technical assistance to make a significant and sustainable positive difference in the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families. The late Ross and Marianna Beach were generous founding benefactors. Over the years, Beach Center employees have provided international, national, state, regional, and local leadership and service in collaboration with people with disabilities, their families, community members, professionals, and policy leaders.
The Beach Center also served as a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Families and Disability for over 20 years. This work led to the development of measures such as the Family Quality of Life Scale and Family-Professional Partnerships Scale, the evaluation of family support policies and practices such as person-directed funding, parent-to-parent and family-centered service coordination models, and the implementation of training and support for practitioners serving families and their children with disabilities.
Family Quality of Life Resources
The Family Quality of Life Scale is available free of charge. Permission is granted for use in any educational or research purpose, provided appropriate reference is given in any reports or publications reporting results of studies using the Scale. Recommended citations are located on the cover sheet of the Scale.
H. Rutherford Turnbull III
Rud Turnbull, a self-described student of the human condition in a disability policy context, is a researcher, teacher, consultant, and advocate in the field of developmental disabilities. With his wife Ann, he was co-founder and co-director of the Beach Center on Disabilities. He was a Distinguished Professor, in special education, and has been courtesy professor of law, at the University of Kansas. His research addressed nearly 20 different issues of disability policy and qualified him to be an expert witness before Congressional committees and draftsman of state and federal statutes, regulations, and proclamations. Until January 7, 2009, he was the father of Jay Turnbull (died at age 41), who had an intellectual disability, autism, and emotional-behavioral challenges. He served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; president, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disability; chairman, American Bar Association Commission on Disability Law; secretary, The Arc of the United States; and treasurer, The Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities. He received peer recognition as one of 36 people who, in the 20th Century, “changed the course of history in mental retardation” and, during the 19th and 20th centuries, as one of the leaders of the field of special education.
Emeritus Faculty, Beach Center on Disability
School of Education - Special Education
Education
LL.M., Harvard Law School
LL.B/J.D., University of Maryland Law School
B.A., The Johns Hopkins University,Kent School
Contact
Ann P. Turnbull
Ann Turnbull has been a prolific professor, researcher, and advocate for individuals with disabilities, their families, and service providers for five decades. She spent her academic career on the faculty of the Department of Special Education at the University of North Carolina and University of Kansas. She retired from the University of Kansas as the Ross and Marianna BeachDistinguished Professor and winner of the university’s highest awards in teaching, graduate student advising, and research. She has authored/coauthored 38 books (including two leading special education textbooks) and over 300 articles and chapters. Internationally, she was selected by the National Historic Preservation Trust in Developmental Disabilities as one of 36 individuals worldwide who “changed the course of history for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the 20th century.” She received the Rose Kennedy International Leadership Award from the Kennedy Foundation and Prince Salman Award for Disability Research from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Nationally, Dr. Turnbull has been awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from five leading disability organizations. Her greatest learning has come from her son, Jay Turnbull (1967-2009), who daily demonstrated that people with complex support needs can experience dignity as they live, work, and recreate in inclusive communities with family and friends.
Emeritus Faculty, Beach Center on Disability
School of Education - Special Education
Education
Ed.D., Special Education, University of Alabama
M.Ed., Special Education, Auburn University
B.S.Ed., Special Education, University of Georgia