Welcome to Iowa’s Developmental Disabilities Council (DD Council). French author Honore de Balzac once said, “It’s easy to sit up and take  notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.” Those of us affected by disability are certainly not immune to this. We can always be counted on to talk about what’s wrong, what doesn’t work, what needs to change, and what doesn’t make sense, but we all too often come up short when the conversation turns to strategies for action. The DD Council’s strategy to address this is to arm those of us who are affected by disability with the information, skills and confidence to stand up and takeaction; to offer solutions, and be a driving force for the change they want to see. We have designed this website  to provide information about the Council’s priorities, strategies, activities and investments toward this effort. It’s a beginning and you can count on us to continue to develop these through the next five years. We call the process “PREPARATION, PARTICIPATION and POWER.”