John R. Vaughn, Chairperson
October 2006

The Bulletin, which is free of charge and at NCD’s award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the new NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form. Please send your editorial comments to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley (mquigley@ncd.gov).

Creating Livable Communities

On October 30, NCD released its latest report, Creating Livable Communities, at AARP headquarters in Washington, DC. The report is the sequel to NCD’s 2004 report, Livable Communities for Adults with Disabilities (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2004/LivableCommunities.htm).

Communities in the United States are faced with increasingly difficult choices and decisions about how to grow, plan for change, and improve the quality of life for all citizens, including children, youth, and adults with disabilities. As mentioned in our previous report, NCD believes that for the promise of full integration into the community to become a reality, people with disabilities need safe and affordable housing; access to transportation; access to the political process; and the right to enjoy whatever services, programs, and activities are offered to all members of the community by both public and private entities.

Participants at the news conference included Pat Pound (NCD); Elinor Ginzler (AARP); James Koski (Congressional Livable Communities Task Force); Mia Oberlink (Center for Home Care Policy and Research); and Larry Roffee (Access Board).

Participants at the stakeholder dialogue included Day-al Mohamed (American Council of the Blind); Yerker Andersson (National Association of the Deaf); Curt Decker (Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities); Andy Kochera (AARP); Michael Morris (National Disability Institute); Nancy Starnes (National Organization on Disability); Janna Starr (United Cerebral Palsy); and David Warner (Social Security Advisory Board).

NCD Disability Policy Work—Looking Ahead

In Fiscal Year 2007, NCD will begin health care and vocational rehabilitation studies and will finalize research on several important studies, including ADA impact, ADA implementation, disability data and statistics, emerging technologies, mental health, and telecommunications.

Disability Data and Statistics

Under this cooperative agreement, Cornell University will conduct research to ensure that the Federal Government is in a position to effectively monitor and eventually evaluate programs and supports for people with disabilities, but not duplicate other work. A secondary interest is to determine how the Federal Government can best contribute to the improvement of performance reporting for its major social programs for Americans with disabilities and their families. One of the chief reporting mechanisms has been the use of indicator systems. Few of this nation’s national indicator systems, however, are populated with outcome data related to people with disabilities. Additionally, most indicator systems do not address the whole of people's lives but are domain-specific (e.g., health). In an effort to identify valid federal indicators and data and to describe the status of the U.S. population of Americans with disabilities, NCD will conduct research that results in a report titled Americans with Disabilities: Key Indicators of Quality Lives.

Educational Outcomes

NCD has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Educational Policy Institute to conduct a formal evaluation of the implementation of both the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Thanks to IDEA and its push for increased access to education for students with disabilities, and NCLBA, with its push for improved student outcomes, educators across the United States are reexamining their practices to find ways to close the achievement gaps between groups of students. Students with disabilities are a focus of this attention, as schools and states labor to improve their academic outcomes. Policymakers are studying both the reauthorization of IDEA and the ongoing implementation of NCLBA to determine the most effective means of serving students with disabilities. At the beginning of fiscal year 2007, ample time has passed since passage of NCLBA and the reauthorization of IDEA for this research to be undertaken.

Employment

Over the past 30 years, a range of laws have been enacted, such as the Workforce Investment Act, to improve the employment status of Americans with disabilities. Periodic reports (e.g., Census 1990 and 2000) and survey findings (e.g., Harris Interactive 1994, 1998, and 2002) indicate that the intended employment outcomes are not yet being achieved. NCD will continue to build on its 2004 and 2005 employment research work and carry forward its thorough review of federal laws and programs aimed at employing people with disabilities to determine the status and impact of these efforts. NCD will continue to focus on the following questions: (a) what do employment programs do to individualize their services and supports for individuals with a range of disabilities, and (b) how are entities carrying out the accommodations provision of Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Current public policies and procedures addressing the employment of people with disabilities are not coordinated and often conflict. The research for this project will include, but not be limited to, analyzing existing public policies that impact the employment of people with disabilities and determining how they conflict or complement each other; developing a consistent national public policy agenda that supports the employment of people with disabilities; looking at innovative ways to eliminate inconsistencies in federal agency policy; and examining ways to stimulate discussion about private sector involvement supporting the employment of people with disabilities.

Emerging Technologies

NCD is preparing a paper on emerging technologies and services as they affect people with disabilities, describing current trends in emerging technologies and services, and discussing how people with disabilities have used and can continue to creatively use emerging technologies and services to increase independence and productivity. The paper will outline the resulting policy implications and provide recommendations for crafting policies that encourage the design and implementation of more accessible and usable technologies and services.

Foster Care

NCD contracted with the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) to draft a policy report on foster care for youth with disabilities. The report will explore this vulnerable population in terms of demographics, services available, and laws in place to help them, and then determine what policy changes are needed to better the situation of these youth. Youth in foster care are by nature some of the most vulnerable youth in our society, due to the fact that they are in the system as a result of parental neglect, abuse, or another dangerous home situation. Even more alarming, however, is the high percentage of youth in foster care who have diagnosed mental and emotional disorders, as well as learning disabilities. Their disabilities place these youth in an even more dire situation, and if serious resources are not devoted to helping them throughout their youth, they are in extreme danger of becoming disconnected from society in their adulthood.

Mental Health

This project is a companion to two previous NCD studies: The Well-Being of Our Nation: An Inter-Generational Vision of Effective Mental Health Services and Supports (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2002/mentalhealth.htm) and Livable Communities for Adults with Disabilities (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2004/LivableCommunities.htm). Also aligned with findings in The Well Being of Our Nation report and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, this study will address the need for transformation of our nation’s public mental health services and attitudinal changes about outcomes for people diagnosed with mental illnesses. Like the Livable Communities research, this paper will focus on factors essential to the full integration and inclusion of people with psychiatric disabilities into the larger community. The study will analyze and summarize existing research and practices on programs designed to maximize independence, ensure safety and security, promote inclusiveness, and provide choices for people with, or recovering from, psychiatric disabilities.

Telecommunications and Information

This paper will explore the need for legislative and regulatory safeguards to guarantee equal access by people with disabilities to evolving high-speed broadband, wireless, and Internet-based technologies. Experience shows that as these technological innovations stake their claim in American society, market forces will not be sufficient to ensure such access. Rather, Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and other federal agencies will need to take steps to ensure that these communications technologies remain accessible to and usable by all Americans with disabilities.

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Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004