This week saw the launch of the first issue of the Developmental Disabilities Network Journal. This is a project that has been a long time in the making, and I am so excited to share this new open-access journal to the disability field. Please take some time to check out my opening editorial and the other research published in this new resource.

One of my favorite metaphors is that of "cathedral building", frequently used by Bill Shore, the founder of the non-profit Share Our Strength (S.O.S). Bill points out that the cathedrals in Europe were edifices that required hundreds of years to build. Cathedrals began with a vision by the architects and craftsmen of a particular generation and they laid the foundations, but the final building was not completed until well after the original architects and craftsmen were dead. Generation after generation labored to build these massive buildings and almost all of the workmen never lived to see the final result of their efforts. They labored daily to build these magnificent structures because they had faith that they were working on something that would be a permanent monument and an enduring testament to their efforts and sacrifice. The cathedral builders were engaged in a work that ensured their immortality. So, what is your cathedral? What are you building every day? What are we building together? Why do you do what you do?

Mental health may be the last great frontier of civil rights policy. There continues to be significant amounts of fear and discrimination across society regarding individuals with mental illness.

We are now living in a fractured world, a divided world, where hatred, dissension, and strife seem to be the rule. People are separated into factions: Republican or Democrat; conservative or liberal; educated or ignorant; black or white; good or evil; with us or against us. We seem to have lost the ability to grasp complexity and appreciate difference. Compassion for the other side, for those who are different, seems to be in short supply.