Revisiting AHEAD's Professional Standards: Exploring Their Transformation into Competencies and Application to 21st Century Disability Resources Practice.

The Association on Higher Education and Disability's (AHEAD) Professional Competencies (formerly Professional Standards) serve as a guiding document for professionals in the disability resources field. The Professional Competencies are aligned with, and informed by, the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) Standards and Guidelines for Disability Resources and Services (Council for the Advancement of Standards, 2023). The Professional Competencies were revised in 2022 by an institutionally and demographically diverse task force appointed by the AHEAD Board of Directors. Accompanying key attributes were written with the goal of being applicable to professionals holding various roles at a variety of institution types. The Competencies, when utilized by disability resources professionals to grow their own professional knowledge, skills, and traits, support the work of facilitating equitable access and ensuring equal opportunity for disabled people. This article will describe the background, methodology, and results of updating the Professional Standards to the Professional Competencies, including explanation of themes and application of the Competencies for practitioners. Furthermore, the correspondence between the Competencies and the 2021 AHEAD Program Standards are discussed to equate the individualized work professionals do in each of the Competencies to what AHEAD has defined as best practice for disability offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]