The 18th Asian Conference on Mental Retardation

Tai-Hwa Emily Lu, Ph.D.

President of AFMR,Chairperson of 18th ACMR

Introduction

First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your constant support to Asian Federation on Mental Retardation (AFMR), which has an honorable tradition since 1973. As the President during Nov 23, 2005 to Nov.23, 2007, I have two main missions to achieve. One is to extend our country memberships to other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Burma, and Laos, the other is to hold the 18th Asian Conference on Mental Retardation (ACMR) in Taiwan. To the former, the new board and I will try our best to recruit more countries as the full members and more associate members in the 15 existing country memberships. As the latter, " Special Education Association of the Republic of China"(our association and a full member of AFMR), and the other two AFMR associate members, " Republic of China Association for Mentally Handicapped Persons "and " Parents' Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability, R.O.C. " will work together to organize and welcome you all to attend the 18th ACMR.

We have decided to hold the conference in Taipei City during Nov. 18 to Nov. 23, 2007. The theme of the 18th ACMR is " Universal Design Environment " , which means to build a barrier-free universal environment both physically and mentally for all, including persons with mental retardation. The content of the 18th ACMR includes keynote speeches, paper presentations, symposia, exhibitions, poster presentations, and workshops. Furthermore, all participants are invited to attend social activities, including a reception party, a welcome banquet party, a cultural night and a friendship night. We also arrange optional school visits and cultural visits which are free of charge.

The 18th ACMR will be an intellectual and artistic banquet that delegates of our 15 country members, experts and other related parties from all over the world could share mutual knowledge, ideas, opinions, experiences, and programs related to mental retardation. The cumulative achievements will promote the success of the 18th ACMR and accelerate the advancement of universal design environment. Therefore, we sincerely hope that you would attend it and present papers. Let us create another peak at the 18th ACMR!