Institute for Exceptional Care

06/14/2026

“We focus particularly on the community of people who have intellectual and or developmental disabilities, including conditions like autism or Down syndrome or fetal alcohol syndrome or cerebral palsy in some cases." - Mai Pham

Our president and CEO Mai Pham was interviewed by DC News Now as a DMV Doer.

Watch the interview:

Dr. Hoang Mai Pham, President, Instiute for Exceptional Care, talks...

06/06/2026

June is Pride Month, and we wanted to reshare this article by self-advocate Yolanda Vargas on how to be a better ally. Yolanda shares three resources that help inform us how the trans community often overlaps with disability and healthcare.

Helpful, and nonjudgemental resources to inform us how the trans community often overlaps with disability and healthcare.

06/03/2026

Typical ways we measure healthy aging can miss what matters for people with IDD. This report aims to correct that.

IEC brought together adults with IDD, family members, clinicians, insurers, researchers, and policymakers to define what healthy aging outcomes matter most to them. The answers went beyond disease prevention.

People described healthy aging as having energy, being comfortable, staying connected to their communities, making their own choices, and continuing to do the things they love.

Learn more about geroscience for people with IDD in our new report:

A major new report shares important recommendations for how healthcare systems can improve care for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD).

06/01/2026

A major new report shares important recommendations for how healthcare systems can improve care for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD).

The report is from Phase 3 of IIDDEAL (Individuals with IDD Engaged, Aligned, and Leading), a national effort to figure out what good health looks like for people with IDD and how to measure it. Thirty-eight partners, led by the Institute for Exceptional Care (IEC), reviewed dozens of quality measures to identify which are most important for people with IDD.

We are excited to publish these findings!

A major new report shares important recommendations for how healthcare systems can improve care for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD).

05/19/2026

Accessible communication is vital for delivering equitable and inclusive healthcare, particularly for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). That's why we developed the IEC Dental Toolkit!

Effective communication begins with understanding patient needs, fostering inclusivity, and employing adaptable approaches that prioritize respect and accessibility.

Accessible communication is vital for delivering equitable and inclusive healthcare, particularly for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). That's why we developed the IEC Dental Toolkit! Effective communication begins with understanding patient needs, fostering inclusi

05/13/2026

"A physician friend just told me that at her hospital, she saw a patient with intellectual disability wearing a yellow gown. And she learned later that gown is used to signal to staff that patient has serious mental illness... I think [this practice is] indicative of a deeper issue." - Mai Pham, CEO of IEC

Mislabeling someone can affect the care they receive and how they are treated by staff. People with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities deserve to have their needs accurately understood by the people who are caring for them.

If we want a healthcare system that works for everyone, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and insurance providers all need to ask how we adapt the system to better serve people, not the other way around.

Here are some resources to help patients, advocates, and healthcare providers: https://na2.hubs.ly/H05tHgQ0

04/29/2026

A visit to the dentist can be stressful for a lot of people, especially people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). Communication can be challenging, and people with IDD want to be heard, respected, and cared for.

That's why we partnered with Delta Dental of New Jersey and Connecticut Delta Dental of Michigan to create the IEC Dental Toolkit. This toolkit was made to help people with IDD, their support teams, and dental providers have more successful dental visits. Each tool is free to download and use. What's in the toolkit?

It contains resources for dentists and their office staff, including a guide for how to avoid misunderstandings in healthcare conversations, supporting patients with complex needs, and more.

For people with IDD, the toolkit can help prepare people with IDD for their dental visit, including an outline for what to expect during a dental visit, a plain language guide for understanding dental procedures, and tools to support communication at the dentist's office.

Get the toolkit here: https://www.ie-care.org/resources-to-improve-dental-care-for-people-with-idd/

04/15/2026

"A lot of people with IDD view health care primarily as a source of harm. Think about that for a minute."

There's a lot wrong with the health care system, especially for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, but the good news is that we can fix these problems.

Learn more from our president and CEO Mai Pham.

04/08/2026

Dennis Tran, one of Institute for Exceptional Care (IEC)'s Advocate Corps self-advocates, recently entered his short-film in Easterseals Southern California's Disability Film Challenge. It is a piece that speaks to the magnitude of individual experience, resilience, courage, and community. Even more than that, it is a beautiful piece of work. 💜

A neurodivergent, Asian American, young man is determined to prove his independence despite his parents' doubts and misunderstandings. He navigates a day of ...

03/04/2026

"We see our job more as scaling the desire to learn about IDD among clinicians. So we work with national clinical societies and with accrediting bodies and we try to gather momentum at the grassroots level among communities of clinicians. We also give them tools, super simple checklists and things that you can use because we honestly don't think that most of what people with IDD need is rocket science."

Our president and CEO Mai Pham was recently featured on the Gooznews podcast (Merrill Goozner) and spoke about her work with IEC in an episode titled: Exceptional Caring

Listen to it here: https://gooznews.substack.com/p/podcast-exceptional-caring