Welcome to The Arc's World Wide Web Site

With more than 1,200 affiliated chapters and 140,000 members across the United States, The Arc is the country's largest voluntary organization committed to the welfare of all children and adults with mental retardation and their families. The Arc, with its rich history in advocacy and services, is comprised of individuals with mental retardation, family members, professionals in the field of disability and other concerned citizens. The Arc has adopted various positions on issues that affect people with mental retardation and their families, and the organization's mission statement forms the basis for the organization's activities.

The Arc of the United States, the Association's national headquarters, is located in Arlington, Texas. The national headquarters is organized into various departments that provide programmatic, research, legislative, communication, organizational and other services.

The Arc's Department of Governmental Affairs (GA), located in Washington, D.C., is responsible for legislative advocacy, providing testimony on pending legislation and numerous other governmental activities that impact people with disabilities and their families. GA publishes periodic Action Alerts on topics of importance to the organization and its members as well as a semi-monthly newsletter. The most recent publications and announcements from this department include:

• The Arc's Government Report (May 11, 1995)
• The Arc's Government Report (May 25, 1995)

The Arc's Department of Research and Program Services has developed a number of publications available on a variety of topics, plus a series of fact sheets available through this web site. Through the activities of this department, The Arc is also involved in some new and exciting programmatic activities that are of interest to consumers, families and professionals:

• The Arc's Report Cards to the Nation on Inclusion
• Self-Determination
• Aging with Mental Retardation
• The Arc's Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Information Clearinghouse Resource List
• Future Planning
• People with Mental Retardation in the Criminal Justice System
• Family Support
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Self-Advocacy Activities
• Community Support Skills Standards

The Arc's Communications and Development Department produces the organization's national newspaper, The Arc Today, and is responsible for all mass communications to internal audiences within the association and externally to the American public. The department is also responsible for The Arc's fund-raising program which is conducted among individual donors, corporations and foundations.

Accelerate here to find out about The Arc's 1995 national convention.

As the Internet grows, state and local chapters of The Arc will be joining the Web. Make sure to visit these sites:

• Arc of Dallas

There are a growing number of disability-related World Wide Web Sites and we have compiled a list of those we know about. We provide this list as a source of information, with the disclaimer that the only qualifier for inclusion on the list is disability-related content. Contact the site directly for more information or to discuss the content of that web site. If you know of a disability-related site, let us know and we will include it on the list:

Disability-Related World Wide Web Sites

If you're reading this, then you're at least familiar with the World Wide Web. But, how about the different parts of the Internet like listserve discussion groups and usenet newsgroups? And even if you do know about these things, maybe there is someone else you know who needs this information. To help, The Arc has produced a fact sheet, Disability Information on the Internet that answers many of the questions people have about "the Net." Most WWW browsers allow you to print pages, so feel free to print-out a copy of this fact sheet and pass it on to others.

You may be interested in developing your own Web site. If so, there is a wide array of resources for creating World Wide Web pages to assist you.