Did you know that four years before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), President Ronald Reagan declared May 7, 1986, as National Barrier Awareness Day? The declaration followed the release of a report from the National Council on Disability called Toward Independence, which reviewed Federal laws and programs affecting people with disabilities and identified incentives and barriers to participation in education, employment, and community life. The report recommended a new civil rights law with suggested the title “The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1986.”
Barriers can be physical, like steps or doors. Barriers can also be less tangible, but just as challenging to full participation. People with disabilities can experience financial, technological, programmatic, attitudinal, and policy barriers to participation. Many of the projects funded by NIDILRR have explored these barriers and ways to address or eliminate them. Here are some of those currently working in this space.
Identifying and Addressing Financial Barriers
Barriers to Inclusion: Quantifying Disability-Related Out-of-Pocket Costs and Unmet Needs for People with Disabilities with a Focus on Underserved Communities. The goal of this research is to provide policy makers with actionable data on existing financial barriers to community living and participation. This information is vital for informing the design of policies that fill in the gaps in social protection and support the full economic and social inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Financial Engagements as a Gateway to Community Participation: A Multi-Level Intervention Study. This project examines the promise of ABLE accounts in increasing community participation for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and cognitive disabilities.
Identifying and Addressing Technological Barriers
Twenty-First Century Captioning Technology Metrics and Usability. This project examines access to video (broadcast or streaming) and its effects on societal participation (e.g., entertainment, news, political process, etc.), and develops a modern evidence-based approach to address the caption quality and caption user interface/user experience needs of viewers who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
Inclusive Information and Communications Technology Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC). This RERC addresses access to inclusive information and communication technologies (ICT) for people with disabilities. ICTs are an integral part of life, impacting education, employment, health, transportation, and social communication; however, as ICTs continue to evolve (e.g., digital technologies) access for individuals with disabilities may become prohibitive.
Identifying and Addressing Programmatic Barriers
Culturally Appropriate Research in American Indian Employment Programs (CARE). The goal of this project is to determine the characteristics of practices and policies used by staff of American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS) programs and their correlation to effectiveness in assisting American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) with disabilities in gaining and maintaining quality integrated employment, ultimately improving employment outcomes for AI/AN with disabilities.
ADA Participation Action Research Consortium. The ADA Participation Action Research Consortium (ADA PARC) builds upon years of participatory action research (PAR) in collaboration and partnership with a consortium of ten ADA Regional Centers, the ADA Knowledge Translation (KT) Center, and a national network of disability organizations and communities to examine the social and economic factors that influence and impact societal participation of citizens with disabilities within and at community and regional levels.
Identifying and Addressing Attitudinal Barriers
Impacts of Internalized, Interpersonal, and Systemic Ableism in Healthcare Services and Systems: A Field-Initiated Project Program. This project conducts exploratory and descriptive research to identify the impacts of three levels of ableism: internalized, interpersonal, and systemic ableism to better understand how to dismantle and disrupt ableism and close meaningful health equity gaps.
Identifying and Addressing Policy Barriers
National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities. The goal of this center is to conduct research and provide training and technical assistance to improve the lives of parents with disabilities and their families, particularly racial and ethnic minority parents. This includes analyzing the impact of state laws pertaining to the rights of parents with disabilities and developing and testing a practice change intervention for child welfare professionals.
Rehabilitation Research and Training on Employment Policy: Center for Disability-Inclusive Employment Policy Research. This center designs and implements a series of studies that produce new data and evidence on disability-inclusive employment policy to increase employment rates and outcomes for persons with disabilities. Studies examine federal, regional, state, and private industry policies and programs to identify critical outcomes and impacts that improve multiple facets of employment.
These are just a few examples of grantees who are currently working to identify, address, and remove barriers to full participation of people with disabilities in the communities and industries of their choosing. Visit our website to explore more research and development from the NIDILRR community, or contact our information specialists for assistance in searching our collection!