Abstract. An abstract is a short description of something you have done. Abstracts about research or for conference presentations follow a set of guidelines. These are why did you do the study, what you did, what did you find and what do your findings mean.

Annual report. Every year ASID does an annual report. This tells everyone what ASID has done in the year and how much money it has.

Board of directors. Board of directors are a group of people elected by ASID members. Every director must be a member of ASID. They make ASID work and make sure there is money to do things. They make the mission happen.

Constitution. ASID has a constitution. The constitution tells everyone the rules about how ASID runs. It is a legal document.

Divisions. ASID is made up of divisions from Australian states and territories and New Zealand. In Australia the divisions are; Victoria, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. Each state or territory can be a division of ASID if they have enough members. The constitution tells you what to do to become a division.

Influence. ASID want to influence things for people with intellectual disability. ASID wants to make their lives better. Influence means to change something.

Intellectual disability. ASID uses the term intellectual disability in all its work. This is the term used in Australia. Other countries use the word learning disability or mental retardation.

Researchers say an intellectual disability means a person has difficulty learning in all parts of their life. It starts at birth and goes on. In Australia, learning disability means someone has difficulty in one part of learning. This might be learning to read. Some people with lived experience of an intellectual disability like the word learning disability better. People First is an advocacy group in New Zealand. They think learning disability is a better word. They call themselves people with a learning disability.

ASID talks about a person WITH an intellectual disability. When we talk about more than one person we use the term people with intellectual disabilities. The person comes first. Not everyone with an intellectual disability is the same. Life experiences are different for everyone. It depends on a person’s skills, and the support they can get.

Mission. The mission is a short description that tells people what ASID does.

Practice. Practice is what we do every day. ASID wants research to lead practice. Research gives us the evidence. That means we do the best we can to make lives better for people with an intellectual disability.

Peak body. ASID is a peak body. It is not a government organisation. It is a group of members who all want to make things better for people with intellectual disability. It does this by publishing research and having conferences to let people know how to do things better.

Policy. Policy is about the directions we want to go. It can be turned into a set of rules or ideas. ASID has policy so everyone knows how to do things.

Position statement. A position statement tells everyone what ASID thinks about something.

Research. ASID wants everyone to know about research and intellectual disability. To do research you need to do something very carefully and follow a set of guidelines. Research has to follow ethical guidelines. Ethical guidelines are set by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Ethical guidelines mean that personal information is kept private and no one is harmed.

Strategic objectives. These are goals for ASID that make lives better for people with intellectual disability in Australasia. These are long term goals (for more than a year).

Strategic partnerships. These are partnerships that will help ASID meet its goals. Partnerships can be with individuals or organisations who wants the same things as ASID.