As the Olmstead decisions turns 25, we explored some of the research and development in community living from the NIDILRR grantee community since this landmark event. These snapshots in time capture some of the trends and themes we’ve seen over the years.
We searched our REHABDATA database using specific years, including the year before (1998), the decision year (1999), and the year after (2000), and every five years thereafter: 2004-2005, 2009-2010, 2014-2015, 2019-2020, and 2023-2024. For each search, we looked for the phrase “community living” and limited our search to look for publications and products indexed under one or more NIDILRR grant numbers. Here’s what we found:
- 1998 (the year before) – 27 abstracts including publications about transitions from nursing homes to residential programs, impact of the environment on reintegration, the role of independent living centers, and Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.
- 1999 (the Olmstead year) – 19 abstracts including publications about making decisions about residential living, intentional communities, costs for community-based services, and supported housing.
- 2000 (the year after) – 12 abstracts including publications about person-centered planning, participation and voting rights, intentional communities, costs of services, barriers and facilitators.
- 2004-2005 (5 years later) – 81 abstracts including publications about understanding Olmstead personally; trends in own home, family hosts, and other community options; and social participation.
- 2009-2010 (10 years later) – 68 abstracts including publications about participation and how we measure it, acceptance in community settings, and family supports.
- 2014-2015 (15 years later) – 52 abstracts including publications about community engagement, social inclusion/social participation, long term services and supports, and accessibility and environment.
- 2019-2020 (20 years later) – 39 abstracts including early research on COVID’s impact on community living.
- 2023-2024 (today) – 22 abstracts including publications on equal access to public spaces, caregiving, direct support workers, socioeconomic status, aging and long-term outcomes.
These searches show moments in time for NIDILRR-funded community living research and development. They can offer an interesting window into the wide array of topics around this issue and how it has changed over time, including a significant increase in abstracts five years after the decision, demonstrating more investments in researching the community integration and inclusion of people with disabilities. Are you interested in more research publications and products in our collection? Visit the REHABDATA Advanced search page and try your own searches or contact our information specialists who can help in building the search strategies to meet your research needs.