Our Mission: "To assist individuals, families, and the community to include all people with developmental disabilities in every aspect of life."
Individuals with Disabilities
Families & Guardians
Support Professionals
You can subscribe to MODDC eNews! We currently share information about disability news, funding opportunities, advocacy updates, and more.
Learn more about the Olmstead Decision and Home and Community Based Services (HCBS)
Register Today for the Missouri Transportation Virtual Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023
Advocacy Opportunity: Share your experiences with healthcare and discrimination.
Adults with disabilities are invited to take their leadership and advocacy skills to the next level
Recording Now Available – Disability Benefits 101 (DB101) Online Training
Recording Now Available – Using Work Incentives to Pay for Work-Related Expenses Training
Recording Now Available – “Accessible Transportation: How Do We Get There?” Webinar June 14
Time to Celebrate: Ticket to Work and Employment First legislation signed into law!
Advocacy Interviews: Reporting Abuse and Neglect
The energy! The advocacy! The excitement!
MODDC’s 2023 Legislative Session Summary and Moving Forward
How the HCBS Settings Rule Protects Your Rights
MODDC shares restraint and seclusion recommendations; MO DESE publishes Seclusion and Restraint Data
To view all posts and news releases, click here.
MODDC funded a project to connect voters and election workers in Missouri with quick, overview videos on how to use the accessible voting equipment in their county.
These videos are designed to:
- prepare voters on what to expect when they go vote,
- provide additional support to election judges on how to operate the machines, and
- serve as a way to trouble shoot any issues encountered by election judges or voters the day of voting.
Competitive Employment
Everyone who identifies work as a goal is employable, with the right opportunities and support. Click here to learn more.
Creating a Culture of Coordinated Support
Missouri state agencies serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities must collaborate and coordinate their work. Click here to learn more.
Digital Divide
Missouri must make sure that, to the maximum extent possible, all citizens have access to the technology they need to take part in all facets of life. Click here to learn more.
Diversity
Missouri should develop and implement laws, policies, and practices that ensure equal rights to all including full and equal access to goods and services. Click here to learn more.
Inclusive Education
All students benefit from Inclusive Education: where students with disabilities are full and equal members of the general education classroom and receive the services and supports they need to access, progress, and succeed in the general curriculum. Click here to learn more.
Outreach
Missouri must develop effective means of communicating with people with disabilities and their families, and educate them about state, local, and natural supports that can help them lead full, healthy, independent, and community-included lives. Click here to learn more.
Personal Safety and Well-Being
People with disabilities have the right to be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation including, but not limited to, physical, emotional, sexual, fiscal, and cyber victimization. Click here to learn more.
Self-Determination and Guardianship
Because everyone has the right to make their own choices and direct their lives to the maximum of their abilities, people should not be ordered or kept under guardianship just because they have a disability, need (or want) support, or live (or want to live) in a particular place. Click here to learn more.
Transportation
Without accessible, reliable public and private transportation, hundreds of thousands of Missourians – with and without disabilities – cannot access their communities, work, vote, socialize, shop, attend medical and other appointments, or participate in community-based activities and services. Therefore, Missouri should enact and implement legislation, policies, and practices that expand transportation options and opportunities for all. Click here to learn more.
Voting
Voting is a fundamental right and the bedrock of our democracy. Therefore, Missouri must make sure that citizens – with and without disabilities – have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to vote accessibly and privately in local, state, and national elections. Click here to learn more.
Welcome to the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council
The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council is a federally-funded, 23-member, consumer-driven council appointed by the Governor. Its mandate under P.L. 106-402, the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, is to assure that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families participate in the design of and have access to needed community services, individualized supports, and other forms of assistance that promote self-determination, independence, productivity, and integration in all aspects of community life.

Goals & Objectives 2022-2026 5-Year State Plan
The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council is required by federal law to develop a five-year plan to guide our efforts in planning, advocacy, and providing advice as to programs and services for persons with developmental disabilities that will increase their opportunities for self-determination, independence, productivity, and integration into communities.
Our planning was initiated with a comprehensive review and analysis of the unmet needs of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families by completing a statewide needs assessment. Council members prioritized the planning areas based on impact and feasibility during the five year plan. The final plan contains statewide goals that describe the areas the Council hopes to impact along with measurable objectives to be achieved.
Council News
Upcoming Events
Position Statements
Supported Decision Making Booklets
- Do I Have to Get Guardianship? (PDF)
- Education, Employment, and Independent Living (PDF)
- Special Education Transition Services (PDF)
- Vocational Rehabilitation Programs (PDF)
- Health Care (PDF)
- Person-Centered Planning (PDF)
- Managing Your Money (PDF)
- AGING (PDF)
- EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (PDF)
- Stay Healthy, Staying Connected in a Pandemic