Center for Studying Disability Policy: A Resource for Decision Making

The aging of the population, increased demand for including people with disabilities in society, potential future shortages of workers, and other social trends will increase the need for effective disability programs and policies. However, the nation is in a poor position to develop and monitor new policies because of the paucity of rigorous policy research to guide action. To address this situation, disability researchers from the Cornell University Institute for Policy Research joined Mathematica to create the Center for Studying Disability Policy in July 2007. Its mission is to inform disability policy formation with rigorous, objective research and data collected from the people disability policy aims to serve.

For some time, the two organizations have collaborated on large-scale studies of Social Security disability programs that seek to improve the employment and economic independence of people who receive disability benefits. Staff members at both organizations also conduct research into other disability-related issues, including ways to facilitate consumer choice, care coordination, long-term care, health insurance coverage, children with special needs, and mental health services research. They will also continue to work with researchers at Cornell University on two Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers funded by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research to improve statistics about disability and policies for promoting employment among people with disabilities. Looking to the future, the center will disseminate its work through a new website and issue brief series as well as through continued publication in professional journals.

For over two decades, Mathematica has conducted many significant disability studies, including some of the first rigorous evaluations of employment supports for people with severe disabilities and the largest surveys of people with disabilities. More than 30 staff continue this pioneering work today through a wide range of innovative disability research and data collection. Staff from the Cornell University Institute for Policy Research have published widely on disability-related topics, including employment trends for people with disabilities and ways to improve support for people with severe impairments.

A new bimonthly lunchtime seminar series on disability policy research issues debuts in September 2008. Read more.
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