DD Awareness Toolkit (2026)
We invite you to use our shareable toolkit to make this year’s DD Awareness poster—and the theme “Nothing About Us Without Us”—your own.
Our toolkit includes easy‑to‑use Canva templates where you can add your own photos, messages, and logo.
Video instructions coming soon.
How to get started:
- Choose your preferred templates from the list below.
- The template will open in Canva (please note: you will need to create a Canva account if you don’t alraedy have one).
- Add your own photos, messages and logo.
- Share it to social media or print and distribute it in your community.
- Tell us about it and we’ll add your name to quarterly draws for a $50 gift card:
- See social media tags below.
- Don’t have social media? Email us: info@ocdd.org or call us: (971) 225-3659 , and we will support you to share you story.
- Even if you don’t want to share publicly, we would still love to hear from you!
Full size Poster Template (English)
Full size Poster Template (Spanish)
Social Media Template
(English)
Social Media Template
(Spanish)
Theme
“Nothing About Us Without Us”
Engagement
Please use the hashtags: #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #DDAwarenessMonth #DDAwarenessAlways
Please tag OCDD:
- Facebook/Instagram: @OrCouncilDD
- LinkedIn: oregon-council-on-developmental-disabilities
- Bluesky: @orddcouncil.bsky.social
Messaging
“Nothing About Us Without Us” reminds us that every decision, service, and support must begin with people with IDD—their voices, lived experiences, and meaningful participation in all spaces where decisions are made.
The theme “Nothing About Us without Without Us” underscores the importance of active and meaningful participation by people with IDD and their families in all spaces in Oregon where decisions are made—so they may live, work, play and learn the way they choose in their communities.
I show up for my self and my community throughout the year by (add your story here)
DD awareness takes more than a month – it’s something we do all year.
#DDAwarenessMonth #DDAwarenessAlways #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs
Nearly 67,000 adults and children in Oregon have developmental disabilities. They live and work side by side with their neighbors to form strong, diverse communities.
Sources:
Prevalence of intellectual and developmental disabilities: Estimates from the 1994/1995 National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplements. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 106(3), 231 252
Census Bureau population data: https://data.census.gov/profile?q=United%20States&g=010XX00US .The current national prevalence rate of people with developmental disabilities is 1.58%, determined using the calculation identified in the American Journal on Mental Retardation 1994/1995 National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplements. Larson, S.A., Lakin, K.C., Anderson, L., Kwak, N., Lee, J., & Anderson, D. (2001).
Every person has valuable strengths, infinite capacity to thrive, and the potential to make important contributions to their local communities.
We all deserve to live full lives that include opportunities for competitive, integrated employment, safe and accessible housing, meaningful relationships and access to physical and mental health care.
2026 DD Awareness Poster
Canva Template Instructions
- Click on the template images above.
- A new window will open in your browser with the template page.
- Click “Edit Template.“
- The template will load in the same window and the areas you can change will be editable.
How to upload your logo:
- When the Canva template loads, click on the “Uploads” icon on the toolbar on the left side of your screen.
- A small window will appear beside the toolbar.
- Click on the large “Upload files” button
- Find (browse) the logo image you want to use on your desktop and click “Open.”
- Your logo will appear below the “Upload files” button.
How to swap the placeholder image with your logo:
- Click on your logo image from the uploads panel.
- It will appear on the artboard in front of the poster graphics.
- Click on your logo image on the artboard and drag it over the placeholder image.
- Your logo will replace the placeholder image inside the placeholder image frame.
How to add your own photo and story to a template
- Follow the same steps as above to upload your image.
- Click on your image in the “upload” panel.
- Your image will appear on the artboard in front of the template graphics.
- Click on it and drag it over the circle place holder image frame.
- Your image will appear there.
- Next type in your message where it says “your message.” Remeber to keep it connected to the theme: “Nothing Us Without Us.”
Try to keep it to 2-3 words. Examples: at work, in my community, at school
How to share or download your final image:
- When you are done adding your information to the template, click the “share” button in the upper right corner.
- To share directly to social media, select the social media links and follow the steps.
- To download the graphics and upload them to your social media accounts or other channels, click the “download” icon.
- In the file type, choose “PNG”
- Then change the size to 2 to increase the image quality.
- Then select the page you want to save.
- Click download and choose a place to save the file on your desktop.
- Find your image and upload to your social media accounts.
