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Disability Studies

CACP’s work in disability studies focuses primarily on policy-driven issues of accessibility faced by people with disabilities. These issues range from access to voting, access to the workplace, and access to technologies such as mobile wireless devices. Much of CACP’s research in the disability studies field is conducted through involvement with the RERC on Mobile Wireless Technologies for People with Disabilities and the RERC on Workplace Accommodations for People with Disabilities. Other research partners include the Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (CATEA) at Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), and non-profit organizations working in the disabilities field.

• Policy Initiatives to Support Universal Access for People with Disabilities (Wireless RERC)

  The Policy Initiatives Project conducted legislative, policy and regulatory monitoring and analysis for the Wireless RERC during the first five years of the project. Currently the work is continued under the “Collaborative Policy Approaches to Promote Equitable Access” project (see below). Findings were shared with members of the disability community, policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to advance the technology and universal accessibility goals for persons with disabilities. Following completion of an initial set of policy assessments and regulatory analyses, Policy Delphi research was used to generate policy options, strategies and recommendations for policy makers and regulators to aid and improve mobile wireless technology applications in support of employment, independent living, and the community integration of people with disabilities. In addition to research and white papers this project also produced a monthly newsletter.

• Collaborative Policy Approaches to Promote Equitable Access

  This project, under the renewal of the Wireless RERC examines public policy issues that influence equitable access to wireless technology and identifies opportunities to inform and influence policy decisions supporting equitable access. While a wide variety of wireless technologies and services have become generally available in the U.S. significant issues involving access to these technologies still exist for people with disabilities. Improved access to wireless technologies, services, and devices can be facilitated through policy change at appropriate points of the policy and regulatory process. Appropriate wireless devices, and specialized communications programs essential in providing emergency information to people with disabilities over digital wireless networks, are not readily available. Development of specialized communication subsystems, and policy interventions can facilitate implementation of standardize inter-operable systems.

• Policy Initiatives to Support Workplace Accommodations
  (RERC on Workplace Accommodations)

  The Workplace RERC Policy Project is analyzing policies and practices that may influence the nature and availability of workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities. This project provides ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the pertinent policy, legislative, and regulatory environments, and will develop a policy framework to identify and assess policies, practices and issues that influence the nature and availability of workplace accommodations. Subsequently, the project will generate policy and practice options, and propose programmatic recommendations to advance universal design and improve workplace accommodations.

• Aging and the Accommodating Workplace: A Focus on Employer Practice

  Baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) represent a large “bulge” in U.S. demographic figures. As this population segment begins to reach the age of retirement, a number of them will develop health conditions, functional limitations or disabilities that could make working challenging, if not difficult. This also presents a challenge (or opportunity) for employers; a challenge in ensuring that the workplace is able to accommodate a variety of individual needs, an opportunity to rethink and redesigning the workplace so that it is more universally accessible to a wide range of employees. There is an increasing need to provide workplace accommodations for older workers to 1) keep them in the workplace, and retain the valuable skill sets they have acquired over their many years of work experience, 2) accommodate the increasing influx of part-time and seasonal older employees who might need accommodations on a cyclical basis; and 3) modify accommodations already in use by employees with disabilities as they age. Policies and practices – both corporate and federal - shaped over the course of the next few decades could allow aging workers to remain a valuable part of the U.S. economy. Given these considerations, it is useful from a policy standpoint to determine the degree to which employers are planning for this significant change. For instance, are employers currently implementing (or planning) policies to accommodate aging workers, in the same manner to which they accommodate people with disabilities? This project examines the workplace policies of select Fortune 500 companies in business sectors predicted to have the largest growth in employment during the next decade - along with the future plans of these employers to attract/accommodate aging workers.

• Veterans with Disabilities: New Implications for Social Research and Policy Evaluation

  The recent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have left over 10,000 American troops wounded. These young soldiers (average age 19 years) will return to a society with technologies and legislation to reintegrate them into the workforce. They will likely face the same barriers to employment faced by millions of people with disabilities. By studying this population of individuals, policymakers and rehabilitation professionals have the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts, workplace accommodations and other disability policies and make improvements that could enhance the lives of millions of Americans with disabilities.

• Disability and Planning Practice Study
  This research project examines the planning community’s approach to disability related issues, and how it is addressed in planning education. The research is being conducted by the Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), and the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP). In a planning context, aging and disability-related issues are frequently thought of in terms of accessibility to the built environment and architectural in nature, i.e., the design, scoping and standards for individual buildings. However, planners, working at a much larger scale of communities and cities, need to be aware not only of the requirements of regulatory compliance, design strategies and codes that deal with accessibility, but also larger issues of civil rights and equity.

  As part of this research project, a series of surveys are being conducted to assess awareness of, and knowledge about, the accessibility needs of significantly underserved populations, seniors and people with disabilities, to the built environment and community services. The first phase of the research included a survey of disability- and accessibility-related courses at the Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral levels offered at planning schools across the U.S. Preliminary results revealed that only two out of 68 schools offer courses which specifically address disabilities and aging. The research project is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

• Ageing and the Accommodating Workplace: A Survey of Employer Practice