Disability Research News

Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Health and Function (Development) Synopsis 1

Post date: 02/10/2020
funding announcement

Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Community Living and Participation (Research) Synopsis 1

Post date: 02/10/2020
funding announcement

Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Community Living and Participation (Development) Synopsis 1

Post date: 02/10/2020
funding announcement

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) Program: RERC on Individual Mobility and Manipulation Synopsis 1

Post date: 02/10/2020
funding announcement

2020 LiveWell RERC App Factory application development awards announced!

Post date: 02/10/2020

The LiveWell RERC is pleased to announce the funding of 5 new assistive technology apps slated for development and release in 2020 as part of our App Factory development project.

Request for Information (RFI) for the Inclusive Design Challenge

Post date: 01/21/2020

The Department of Transportation is seeking input on a ...

nTIDE December 2019 Jobs Report: End of year gains minimal for people with disabilities

Post date: 01/10/2020

Job gains were minimal for Americans with disabilities at the close of 2019, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD).

Urban and Rural Residents with Disabilities May Need Different Supports to Stay Socially Connected to Their Communities

Post date: 01/08/2020

In a recent NIDILRR-funded study, researchers asked working-age adults with disabilities about their experiences of social involvement and feelings of isolation. The researchers wanted to find out how factors such as the number of disabilities, living arrangements, and employment were related to social involvement and perceived isolation. They also wanted to find out if these relationships were different for people living in rural vs. urban parts of the country.

Work Experience, Education, and Support from Family May Increase VR Success, but Some Challenges May Get in the Way

Post date: 12/20/2019

Researchers at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center: Individual-Level Characteristics Related to Employment Among Individuals with Disabilities looked at data from 932 people with disabilities who applied for VR services in Ohio in 2014.

Older Adults Share What Helps Them Trust a Home Care Provider

Post date: 12/05/2019

Researchers at the Rehabilitation and Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Successful Aging with Disability interviewed 24 older adults who received at least 4 days of caregiving each week. Half of the participants lived in independent living facilities, such as senior living communities, and had hired individual care providers, while the other half lived in assisted living facilities that normally provided supportive services.

Multiple Sclerosis and Complementary Health Approaches

Post date: 11/28/2019

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published a new NCCIH Clinical Digest for Health Professionals on ...

FY 2019 New Grantee Information Now Available

Post date: 11/19/2019

The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) at ACL has funded 64 new projects in fiscal year 2019, ranging from six-months long Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects building new technology to five-year centers conducting research and...

Healthy Lifestyles May be Linked with Longer Life Expectancy for People with Spinal Cord Injuries

Post date: 11/06/2019

Researchers from a project Risk of Early Mortality After Spinal Cord Injury looked at 2,979 adults with SCI who were treated at a large city hospital. All of these individuals had SCI for at least a year before filling out a self-report assessment about their health and lifestyles. The individuals answered questions about their injury severity; current age and age at injury; race/ethnicity; gender; and whether they were underweight, about normal weight, or overweight for their height.

NIDILRR-funded Rocky Mountain ADA Regional Center published a new course on Accessible Voting Places

Post date: 10/03/2019

The NIDILRR-funded Rocky Mountain ADA Regional Center (90DP0094) has published a new course, Accessible Voting Places, to its ...

Animation May Help Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Learn to Use Symbol-Based Communication Devices

Post date: 09/25/2019

Researchers on the project “Do Animations Facilitate Symbol Understanding in Children with Autism?” enrolled 27 children with ASD in a...

Peer to Peer: Training Peer Health Coaches to Lead a Health Messages Program for Their Peers with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Post date: 09/18/2019

Researchers at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Developmental Disabilities and Health enrolled 33 peer health coaches, 35 staff mentors, and 311 program participants with IDD in a study to test the Peer-to-Peer HealthMessages Program. The peer health coaches were adults with IDD who received services from local CBOs and who wished to become volunteer peer health coaches. The mentors were staff working at CBOs serving the peer health coaches and other adults with IDD.

Optimal Utilization of Psychosocial Supports in Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Issue Brief

Post date: 07/25/2019

As the opioid epidemic has evolved into a national crisis, the need for treatment has increased greatly. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) that combines the use of medications and psychosocial supports, such as therapy, counseling, self-help groups, and case management. MAT effectively treats OUD by decreasing opioid use and opioid-related overdose deaths.

Improving support for older adults with I/DD who have dementia and their families

Post date: 07/22/2019

Adults with I/DD may develop dementia at an earlier age and have early signs that are more difficult to identify than in other adults. As the population of older adults in the United States continues to rapidly increase, this group will likely need additional services and supports.

Understanding family caregiver’s experiences with participant-directed programs

Post date: 07/22/2019

Providers, social workers, and other professionals must better understand families’ subjective complexity and needs to provide more effective consumer driven programs. Participant Directed (PD) programs offer care recipients greater choice and control over the services and supports that they need to meet long-term care needs. Care recipients can choose who they want to provide care to them and can control their own budget. Overall, PD programs lead to lower unmet needs and higher levels of satisfaction.

Culturally informed parent education programs can help Latinx families raising children with Autism

Post date: 07/22/2019

Latinx children with autism are diagnosed later and receive fewer services than their non-Latinx counterparts. This occurs due to several challenges faced by families.The care that families receive is often perceived by parents as inappropriate or of poor quality. This may be due to several factors, including a lack of cultural and linguistic competence of service providers.

ACL Launches Online Hub of Elder Justice Resources

Post date: 06/19/2019

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) at the Department of Health and Human Services launched elderjustice.acl.gov, an online gateway to seven ACL resource centers which support the independence and community inclusion of older adults and adults with disabilities.

Workforce Disability Inclusion Guide

Post date: 06/12/2019

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the Department of Labor has issued an updated version of its guide, Building an Inclusive Workforce (PDF).

NASEM Proceedings Explore AI for People with Disabilities and Older Adults

Post date: 05/29/2019

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) have released a brief report, ...

North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System

Post date: 04/24/2019

Research from the NIDILRR-funded North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model System Center (NTTBIMS) was recently featured in a news segment, ...

Parents with Serious Mental Illnesses May Face More Scrutiny from Child Protective Services

Post date: 04/17/2019

Researchers at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Community Integration and Participation of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities looked at data from the PULSE Healthcare Survey, a large national survey of adults ages 18-65 conducted annually by Truven Health Analytics. The data for this study came from 42,761 respondents who answered questions about their mental health and parenting status.