National Institute on Disability, Independent 

Living, and Rehabilitation Research

2024–2028 Long-Range Plan
i

Table of Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations.................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1

NIDILRR Context.................................................................................................................................... 2

NIDILRR Framework .............................................................................................................................. 3

NIDILRR Aims......................................................................................................................................... 6

NIDILRR Collaborations......................................................................................................................... 7

Background ............................................................................................................................................... 8

Stakeholder Input ................................................................................................................................. 8

Revisiting Key Commitments From the Previous Long-Range Plan...................................................... 9

New Research Agenda ............................................................................................................................ 15

New Emphases.................................................................................................................................... 15

Community Living and Participation Domain ..................................................................................... 18

Health and Function Domain .............................................................................................................. 20

Employment Domain .......................................................................................................................... 22

Technology for Access and Function................................................................................................... 25

Disability Statistics and Demographics Research................................................................................ 28

ADA Technical Assistance, Training, and Research............................................................................. 30

Activities That Promote the Quality and Use of NIDILRR-Sponsored Research .....................................32

Knowledge Translation ....................................................................................................................... 32

Capacity Building................................................................................................................................. 34

Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 36
1

Acronyms and Abbreviations 

ACL Administration for Community Living

ACS American Community Survey

ADA Americans with Disabilities Act

AoA Administration on Aging

AoD Administration on Disabilities

APR Annual Performance Reporting

CIE Competitive integrated employment 

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

I/DD Intellectual and developmental disabilities

KT Knowledge translation

LRP Long-Range Plan

NIDILRR National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research

R&D Research and development

SCI Spinal cord injury

TBI Traumatic brain injury

The Rehab Act Rehabilitation Act of 1973
2 

Introduction

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the Rehab Act) states that “disability is a natural part of the human 

experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to live independently, enjoy selfdetermination, make choices, contribute to society, pursue meaningful careers, and enjoy full inclusion 

and integration in the economic, political, social, cultural, and educational mainstream of American 

society.” This view of disability guides the work of the National Institute on Disability, Independent 

Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). NIDILRR is part of the Administration for Community 

Living (ACL) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

NIDILRR’s 2024–2028 Long Range Plan (LRP) presents a 5-year agenda that will advance the field of 

applied disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research and development (R&D). This LRP will 

continue to emphasize scientific rigor and the need for research that is highly relevant to the lives of 

people with disabilities. The LRP emphasizes the inclusion of people with disabilities as critical to 

advancing both the rigor and relevance of NIDILRR-funded work. The LRP builds on the 2018–2023 LRP

while responding to new developments in the disability, independent living, and rehabilitation R&D

field. 

NIDILRR History and Context

Watch a video to learn more about NIDILRR and the types of projects it funds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt3O8Dcjd8U

As the federal government’s primary applied disability research organization, NIDILRR’s long-standing 

mission is to generate new knowledge and promote its effective use to:

• improve the abilities of individuals with disabilities to perform activities of their choice in the 

community, and 

• expand society’s capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for people with 

disabilities. 

This LRP will be in effect from 2024 through 2028. NIDILRR developed this LRP during the 50th

Anniversary of the Rehab Act, and it will be in effect during NIDILRR’s 50th anniversary in 2028. These 

important anniversaries provide opportunities to reflect on NIDILRR’s history and to continue to evolve 

and grow the agency to meet its critical disability research mission. Originally named the National 

Institute on Handicapped Research (NIHR) and located within the Department of Health, Education, and 

Welfare (HEW), NIDILRR and its programs were first authorized as part of the 1978 amendments to the 

Rehab Act 1973. In 1986, Congress split HEW into the Department of Education and HHS. That year, the 

1986 amendments to the Rehab Act renamed NIHR as the National Institute on Disability and 

Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and placed the organization within the Department of Education. 

Nearly 30 years later, the 2014 amendments to the Rehab Act, the Workforce Innovation and 

Opportunity Act moved the organization to the (then) newly created ACL within HHS and added the 

terms “Independent Living” to the name. 

ACL was created around the fundamental principle that older adults and disabled people of all ages 

should be able to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to 

participate fully in their communities. ACL’s programs provide a variety of direct services for older adults 
3 

and people with disabilities and support states and communities in improving the systems that support 

both populations in living in the community. ACL and its programs also advocate for disabled people and 

older adults to ensure their unique needs are reflected in policies and programs across federal 

government. 

As one of ACL’s program centers, NIDILRR both supports and is supported by ACL’s other centers. 

NIDILRR-funded research informs the development of programs, services and policies that improve 

opportunities for people with disabilities. Similarly, ACL’s other centers share the experiences of people 

with disabilities and unmet needs with NIDILRR to inform R&D activities. Shortly after joining ACL, 

NIDILRR published regulations to provide concrete, detailed guidance for its programs. These regulations 

can be found at 45 CFR 1330. 

NIDILRR Framework

Authorized under Title II of the Rehab Act, as amended, NIDILRR sponsors rigorous R&D that is relevant 

to the lives of people with disabilities. To facilitate success in addressing this responsibility, NIDILRR 

organizes its portfolio across three outcome domains that are important to all populations and ages of 

people with disabilities: community living and participation, health and function, and employment. 

While NIDILRR primarily sponsors disability R&D activities, it also funds important capacity building and

knowledge translation (KT) activities to bolster those R&D efforts. The 2024–2028 LRP builds upon and 

evolves each of these components of our framework to advance NIDILRR’s vital work in applied 

disability, independent living, and rehabilitation R&D. 

Outcome domains

All of the work that NIDILRR sponsors aims at improving outcomes among people with disabilities in one 

or more of the three interrelated life domains of (1) community living and participation, (2) health and 

function, and (3) employment. NIDILRR has a long history of using these outcome domains to guide the 

prioritization and funding of grants in its portfolio. NIDILRR will continue to invest in three areas that 

support outcomes across these domains: technology for access and function; disability statistics; and a 

nationwide network of technical assistance, training, and research centers to support ongoing 

implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

Target populations

To help balance its portfolio and resources across the broad and diverse population of people with 

disabilities, NIDILRR categorizes its grants into the following nonexclusive target populations: 

developmental, cognitive, sensory, psychiatric, and physical disability. According to the Rehabilitation 
4

Act, NIDILRR is required to sponsor research on the experiences, needs, and outcomes of all people with 

disabilities, “especially individuals with the most significant disabilities.” NIDILRR refers to this group as 

“people with disabilities who have the greatest support needs.”

All ages

NIDILRR’s research programs are inclusive of all people with disabilities across the lifespan. NIDILRR 

intentionally welcomes and invites R&D applications that focus on children with disabilities, especially in 

areas and outcome domains that are not well covered by other funding agencies. For example, NIDILRR 

would welcome R&D toward new social environments, parks, and playgrounds that facilitate fully 

inclusive play and participation for children with disabilities, or research on the school experiences and 

outcomes of children with disabilities who have plans under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

NIDILRR also continues to lead efforts to build bridges between the fields of disability and aging 

research. NIDILRR intentionally invites R&D that focuses on the experiences and outcomes of older 

adults in all disability populations. Because NIDILRR’s mandate is to sponsor research on people with 

disabilities who have the greatest support needs, NIDILRR has a specific focus on the population of 

people with disabilities who are aging with long-term disabilities. NIDILRR’s sponsored research has 

been critical to transforming cultural ideas of aging with long-term disabilities and to improving 

research, practice, and policy for this population. 

Funding activities

While this LRP focuses primarily on the R&D that NIDILRR 

sponsors, it will also describe and promote its capacity building 

and KT activities. NIDILRR sponsors capacity building grants and 

training activities to help ensure that the field of disability, 

independent living, and rehabilitation research has well-trained 

research personnel. NIDILRR sponsors KT grants to help ensure 

that new knowledge and products gained through NIDILRR R&D 

are used by stakeholders and, ultimately, improve the lives of 

people with disabilities and further their participation in society. 

Models of disability

More than 20 years ago in its 1999–2003 LRP, NIDILRR (then 

NIDRR) described a “new paradigm” for understanding disability as the product of an interaction 

between the characteristics of the individual (e.g., conditions or impairments, functional status, and

personal and social traits) and the characteristics of the natural, built, cultural, and social environments. 

This paradigm differed in important ways from previous medically oriented models, which held that 

disability was the direct result of individual-level impairments or medical conditions. By focusing 

research on the whole person functioning in the context of their environment, the new paradigm, often 

referred to as the “social model of disability,” created new opportunities for research focused on 

removal of environmental barriers; provision of services, supports, accommodations, and technologies; 

and design of policies that enable people with disabilities to participate in the community. 

For more than 20 years, NIDILRR-sponsored research conducted under the social model of disability has 

led to new knowledge about environmental- or systems-level factors that lead to positive health and 

function, employment, and community living and participation outcomes among people with 

disabilities. That paradigm established a focus on research about the accessibility of health care 
5

facilities, equipment, and services as a means of promoting positive health. In the employment domain,

this paradigm led to a focus on building the evidence base for specific employer practices to hire, retain, 

and promote workers with disabilities. In the community living and participation domain, the paradigm 

framed intensive research on policies and technologies to better support people with disabilities in their 

important role as parents as well as many other activities and roles in the community. 

This holistic social model, which approaches disability as a function of both individual and environmental 

factors represented a critically important advance over the medical model of disability, and it continues 

to be a valuable model for generating knowledge that can be applied to improve the lives of people with 

disabilities. In keeping with its commitment to promoting a dynamic understanding of disability, NIDILRR 

continuously challenges itself – and the field of disability research as a whole – to further improve 

methodological approaches in order to better conceptualize, measure, and account for individual and 

environmental factors that shape experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities. For example, 

the physical accessibility of homes, health care facilities, and neighborhood environments (e.g., 

sidewalks, bus stops) can and must be measured directly. The extent to which public broadcasts about 

local emergencies are fully accessible to people with disabilities must be measured directly. With more 

systematic collection and mapping of such environmental-level data, researchers will be better able to 

explore the dynamic interplay between people and the enabling or disabling environments in which they 

live.

Over the last two decades, NIDILRR grantees and other disability researchers, along with the disability 

community as a whole, have built upon the social model to both broaden the range of factors explored 

and to create new models for understanding disability and the experiences of disabled people. For 

example, there is growing evolution of models and approaches in recognition of the reality that the 

barriers to equal opportunities faced by people with disabilities are compounded for disabled people 

who also face discrimination due to other factors, such as race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender 

identity and the like. In fact, the 1999 LRP noted that disability is a “socioenvironmental issue involving 

accessibility, accommodations, and equity” (p. 10) and “recognition of environmental factors leads to a 

focus on underserved minority populations” (p. 12).

In addition, there are models that approach disability from a completely different starting point. For 

example, the diversity and human rights model considers disability from a civil rights perspective. It 

recognizes the fundamental right of people with disabilities to fully participate in every aspect of society 

– as well as the inaccessible environments that surround disabled people and deprive them of that right. 

More specific to disabled communities who are most historically excluded from participation in their 

communities, such as people of color, immigrants, and people who identify as LGBTQ, is the disability 

justice framework. This framework explores intersections between disability and a variety of 

underrepresented communities to understand the ways diverse systemic structures and barriers amplify 

and reinforce one another. This model intentionally focuses on examining ableism – defined as 

discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities -- as it relates to other systemic 

barriers. These models reject the deficit-based perspective and celebrate the experience of disability as 

an aspect of uniqueness that contributes to society’s overall richness and consider accessibility a 

fundamental societal obligation that benefits all people. These models also recognize that the shared 

experience of disability creates a culture, and that the experience of disability is an intrinsic part of the 

identities of disabled people. Each of these models and approaches contributes important concepts and 

perspectives that help combat discrimination, prejudice, and ableism. 
6 

Ableism can also occur within the disability community, including when certain disability voices are 

privileged over others. It has long plagued the research enterprise in terms of who generates new 

knowledge and who participates in research studies resulting in serious knowledge gaps and reduced 

opportunities for disabled people. The features of systemic ableism have made it complicated for 

disabled investigators and other research team members to be comfortable claiming or disclosing their 

disability identity. This has resulted in people with disabilities being significantly underrepresented in 

research professions. 

Under this LRP, NIDILRR will continue to purposefully sponsor research within the social model of 

disability, while also inviting and supporting research that uses concepts and perspectives from 

emerging models.

Disability language

NIDILRR strives to lead the way on breaking down ableist stereotypes and hierarchies of disability. It is 

important that NIDILRR applicants and grantees do not use outdated, offensive, or euphemistic 

language related to disability. The most recent style guides from the Associated Press (AP) and the 

American Psychological Association (APA) provide up-to-date recommendations for talking about 

disability. Person-first language (e.g., person with autism, person with a disability, person with a mental 

health condition) or identity-first language (e.g., autistic person, disabled person) are acceptable based 

on current use in the disability community. Additionally, terms like “nonverbal” and 

“noncommunicative” to describe people who cannot depend on their own speech to be heard and 

understood are ableist. Not all language is spoken, and these terms do not account for the experience of 

alternative/augmentative communication (AAC) users or those using sign language. This terminology has 

evolved, and the current preferred term is nonspeaking. This term makes room for the other modalities 

and ways of communicating. NIDILRR knows that disability is not a monolith, meaning there are various

language preferences among the disability communities, and strives to honor these important 

differences. 

NIDILRR Aims

Through its portfolio of research and related activities, NIDILRR’s primary aim and responsibility is to 

generate new knowledge about the experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities and to 

develop new products and interventions for use by people with disabilities and those who provide them 

with services and supports. Once new knowledge, products, and interventions are generated, NIDILRR’s 

aim is to promote their adoption and use in ways that shape policy, practice, behavior, and systems 

capacity. In the long term, NIDILRR’s aim is that these knowledge-based improvements will reduce and 

eliminate long-standing disparities between people with and without disabilities in the domains of 

health and function, employment, and community living and participation. With these practical aims of 

creating and applying research-based knowledge in the real world, NIDILRR views and uses research to 

generate evidence to both promote the full participation of people with disabilities in the community 

and to address the historical marginalization and insufficient care that have led to disparities for people 

with disabilities. 

• Short-term outcomes: Advances in understanding, knowledge, skills, and learning

• Intermediate outcomes: Adoption and use of new knowledge leading to changes and 

improvements in policy, practice, behavior, and systems capacity
7 

• Long-term outcomes: Changes in overall conditions, including the elimination of disparities 

between people with and without disabilities in employment, community living and 

participation, and health and function.

NIDILRR Collaborations

ACL’s programmatic strength and mission of “maximizing the independence, well-being, and health of 

older adults, people with disabilities across the lifespan, and their families and caregivers” made it a 

natural home for NIDILRR, and NIDILRR has flourished as one of its centers. NIDILRR works closely and 

intentionally with other ACL programs and colleagues. Programs administered by ACL’s Administration 

on Disabilities (AoD), Administration on Aging (AoA), Center for Innovation and Partnership (CIP), and 

Center for Policy and Evaluation (CPE) will continue to inform NIDILRR’s research programs. At the same 

time, NIDILRR and its grantees will actively promote the use of NIDILRR-sponsored research findings and 

products among programs administered by ACL. Following are a few examples of intentional ACL 

synergies. 

• NIDILRR and AoD’s Office of Independent Living Programs co-funded a Disability and 

Rehabilitation Research project to generate and share new knowledge that empowers centers 

for independent living to optimize transition outcomes among youth with disabilities from 

minority backgrounds. 

• NIDILRR and AoD both funded grants to establish and maintain four national centers to support 

the work of advancing equity and inclusion for people with disabilities who are also from other 

underserved communities. The centers come together twice per year, and each will serve as a 

national resource in its specific topical area. 

• NIDILRR has worked closely with the AoA when preparing briefs or documents of mutual 

interest, including the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. 

NIDILRR continues to be actively engaged in collaboration and coordination of research activities with 

agencies across the federal government. NIDILRR-funded research is consistently being used and shared 

across the federal government in formal and informal ways. While NIDILRR is one of several federal 

funding agencies focused on research for people with disabilities, it is unique in sponsoring applied 

research. Other agencies include, but are not limited to, the National Institutes of Health (e.g., the 

National Institute on Aging, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human 

Development and its National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, and the National Institute of 

Mental Health), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the U.S.

Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Department of Defense. NIDILRR has partnered with 

SAMHSA, for example, for more than three decades to co-fund grants that advance the health and 

function, employment, and community living and participation outcomes among people with serious 

mental illness. NIDILRR will continue to build on its strong history of formal interagency agreements 

where common interests across agencies exist and to pursue co-funding when possible. 
8 

Background 

Stakeholder Input

Overview and methods

The LRP presents a foundational guide for NIDILRR’s daily activities. Thus, it is critical for NIDILRR to hear 

from key stakeholders in the rehabilitation research community, and especially those with lived 

experience of disability, about current gaps and needs, experiences, and opportunities for people with 

disabilities. It is also critical that this input help to ensure NIDILRR’s planning is relevant and responsive 

to the needs of the disability community. To incorporate these perspectives, NIDILRR obtained feedback 

for this LRP from diverse groups of stakeholders, including people with disabilities, disability researchers 

and technical assistance providers, state and federal officials, and members of the disability advocacy 

community. Stakeholders had multiple opportunities to provide input throughout the plan development 

process. In the initial stages of drafting, stakeholders had the option of providing feedback via an email 

drop box or via participation in virtual listening sessions. After NIDILRR completed the listening sessions, 

the agency held a webinar to share the preliminary themes that came from those sessions. Prior to 

finalization, NIDILRR shared a full draft of the LRP with the community, with the invitation for 

stakeholders to provide input. 

A total of 249 individuals participated in the listening sessions, with NIDILRR grantees representing the 

largest participant group (n = 76), followed by representatives from disability groups and advocacy 

organizations (n = 45). Feedback via the email inbox was received from 56 individuals. Twenty-four of 

the individuals who participated in the listening sessions or submitted comments via the email box 

provided their feedback on behalf of an organization or a group.

Listening Sessions Number of Participants

NIDILRR Grantees 76

General/All Invited 57

Disability Groups and Advocacy Organizations 45

Direct Service Providers and Non-NIDILRR Grantee Researchers 35

Individuals With Disabilities and Those Supporting Them 20

Administration for Community Living (ACL)/NIDILRR Staff 10

Interagency Committee on Disability Research Executive Committee 6 

Total Number of Participants 249

Stakeholders provided a total of 413 comments and responses. Six comments and responses were 

duplicative of earlier entries and were counted only once. Of the 413 comments and responses, 192 

(47%) were unique responses provided to specific NIDILRR questions, 129 (31%) were unique comments 

submitted via email, and 92 (22%) were unique comments provided during listening sessions (see Figure 

1). When stakeholders provided the same comment more than once in multiple sessions or via multiple 

emails, only one of the submissions was used for the thematic analysis. 
9 

Figure 1. Percentage of Type of Responses for Feedback Sought for the LRP.

Themes 

In addition to input that recommended new models of disability and anti-ableist approaches to disability 

research described in the prior section, five key themes were identified based on the collective 

stakeholder feedback and input from NIDILRR staff: (1) involvement of people with disabilities across the 

research enterprise, (2) intersectional focus, (3) international amplification and presence, (4) deepening 

capacity building, and (5) innovation. NIDILRR hosted a public webinar, attended by 286 individuals, to 

provide an overview of these themes that came from the collective listening sessions. NIDILRR made the 

recording and transcript available for stakeholders. These themes are described and incorporated in the 

New Emphases section of the research agenda. 

Final-Draft Input

NIDILRR used the themes described above as the foundation for developing and writing the substantive 

emphases and research agenda provided in this plan. Prior to finalizing the plan, NIDILRR shared a final 

draft with the public and sought input into the content, emphasizing the need for information about 

inaccuracies or oversights in the plan. In response, the agency received and reviewed comments from 27 

individuals or organizations. NIDILRR made several edits to this final version of the plan based on this 

input. Many of the comments received were beyond the scope of the call for input. These other 

comments received as part of this public input process will be used by NIDILRR as the agency develops 

future funding opportunities and implements the broad agenda described in this plan. 

Revisiting Key Commitments From the Previous LRP

In the previous LRP (2018–2023), NIDILRR made several key commitments: building infrastructure to 

systematically include people with disabilities in research, funding across all stages of R&D, expanding 

research on issues of aging and disability and community living, and funding research that advances 

health policy. The following section summarizes how each commitment has been addressed. 

Inclusion of people with disabilities in research

In recent years NIDILRR has placed an increased emphasis on inclusion of people with disabilities in all 

aspects of the disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research enterprise. NIDILRR has begun 

Responses to 

NIDILRR questions

47%

Comments via email

31%

Comments during 

listening sessions

22%
10

to systematically gather voluntary information about the disability status of experts who serve on its 

peer review panels. In 2022, NIDILRR revised its peer review criteria for grant proposals, and now 

evaluates the extent to which grant applicants encourage applications for employment from people with 

disabilities. These new data collection efforts and peer review criteria will assist NIDILRR in evaluating 

and tracking the inclusion of people with disabilities in the work that it sponsors. 

The emphasis that NIDILRR has placed on the inclusion of people with disabilities in research has 

resulted in a higher prevalence of investigators and staff with disabilities involved in NIDILRR-sponsored

research. Figure 2 demonstrates that the number of grants led by principal investigators (PIs) with a 

declared disability has been steadily rising since 2007, reaching 50 in 2020, 57 in 2021, and 65 in 2022. 

More than 15 percent of grants were led by PIs with a declared disability in the 2022 Annual 

Performance Reporting (APR) year. NIDILRR also analyzed the number of staff with disabilities who are 

paid as members of NIDILRR-funded grant teams. This analysis over the period of the last LRP (APR year 

2018–2022) shows an increasing number of staff with disabilities (see Figure 3).

To highlight progress during the last LRP (2018–2023), NIDILRR conducted an analysis that looked at 

strategic LRP periods: APR years 2008–2012, APR years 2013–2017, and APR years 2018–2022 (the 

period covered by the last strategic LRP). Figure 4 demonstrates that the period of the previous strategic 

LRP (2018–2022) saw the most dramatic increase: from 22 percent of the staff who may have a disability 

in the 2013–2017 period to 28 percent who may have a disability in the 2018–2022 period.

Figure 2. Number of Nonunique Principal Investigators With a Declared Disability by Annual 

Performance Reporting Year.

Note. Bars in orange stripes represent the fiscal years covered by the current LRP.

35

32 34 33

41

38

44 43 40

39

47

39

44

50

57

65

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Number of Principal Investigators

APR Year
11

Figure 3. Number of Staff Counts by Declared Disability Status by Annual Performance Reporting Year 

2018–2022.

Figure 4. Staff Counts by Disability Status 5-Year Intervals.

2286 2308 2309 2399 2447

378

541 443 393 488

353

371

376

420 499

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Number of Staff Members

APR Year

Yes Disability

Not Declared

No Disability

11279 11700 11749

1931 1926 2019

1194 1481 2243

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

2008-2012 2013-2017 2018-2022

Number of Staff Members

APR Year

Not Declared

Yes Disability

No Disability
12

Funding across stages of R&D. 

In the last LRP, NIDILRR sought to build on prior investments by advancing particular services, supports, 

interventions and products through its stages of R&D. The goals of this effort were to avoid repetitive 

exploration and discovery work and to develop the evidence base for interventions, products, and 

policies for people with disabilities. Figure 5 shows the percentage of projects in each stage of research 

per year over the period of the last LRP (2018–2022). There was a small decrease in the percentage of 

projects in the exploration and discovery stage since 2018, which may suggest some advances in the 

evidence base for specific interventions and products. A more pronounced pattern can be seen among 

recently funded development projects, shown in Figure 6. This graph indicates the lowest percentage in 

the Proof-of-Concept Stage (and correspondingly the highest percentages of Proof-of-Product and 

Proof-of-Adoption Stages) in 2021.

Figure 5. Stages of Research Percentages by Annual Performance Reporting Year. 

 

57.3 55.4 54.3 54 54.7

20.7 22.8 24.2 22.5 22.2

19.2 18.9 18.4 19.5 19.2

2.8 2.9 3 4 3.9

0

20

40

60

80

100

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Percenage of Projects in Stages

APR Year

Scale-up Evaluation

Intervention Efficacy

Intervention Development

Exploration & Discovery
13

Figure 6. Stages of Development Percentages by Annual Performance Reporting Year.

Expand research on issues of aging and disability and community living.

NIDILRR has had a long-term commitment to funding grants that focus on the experience of people 

aging with disabilities. The move from the Department of Education into ACL in HHS came with the 

opportunity for renewed commitment to funding in the area of aging. Over the period of the last LRP,

funding in this area increased. Figure 7 plots by fiscal year the number of dollars (in millions) that 

NIDILRR invested in grants related to aging with disability.

The figure shows that prior to the last LRP there was a high point in 2001 of NIDILRR funding agingrelated grants ($4.44 million). Subsequently there was a falloff in NIDILRR funding in this area, with 

funding reaching a low of $1.45 million in 2007. Funding did recover in 2008, with funding levels 

remaining rather steady at around $2.65 million between 2008 and 2012. Again, there was a slight 

decline, but with investment beginning to grow substantially during the period of the last LRP. This 

steady increase reached a high point of $5.64 million in 2021. 

50.4 47 44.6 39.4 41.5

40.7 43.6 44.3 48.2 47.5

8.8 9.4 11.1 12.4 11

0

20

40

60

80

100

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Percentage of Projects in Stages

APR Year

Adoption

Product

Concept
14

Figure 7. Funding Amounts for Aging Grants by Fiscal Year, 1997–2021.

Note. Bars in orange stripes represent the fiscal years covered by the current LRP.

Conducting research on health policy issues to inform the national agenda.

To understand NIDILRR’s progress on this commitment, NIDILRR analyzed the goals of NIDILRR-funded 

grants that related to health policy. To illustrate NIDILRR’s success in this area over the period of the last 

LRP, Figure 8 shows the number of health policy goals in NIDILRR-funded grants between 2007 and 

2022. 

Figure 8. Health Policy Goal Count by Annual Performance Reporting Year.

3.35

3.48 3.5 3.38

4.444.28

3.35 3.2 3.32

2.01

1.45

2.65

2.65

2.65

2.72

2.65

1.8 1.8 1.8

3.3

3.7

3.68

4.65

5.35

5.64

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

NIDILRR Funding in Millions of Dollars

Fiscal Year

20 20

25

21 21

23 24 2523 23 22 21

30

24

28

31

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Number of Health Policy Goals

APR Year
15

Note. Bars in orange stripes represent the fiscal years covered by the current LRP.

New Research Agenda

The following section summarizes a number of overarching new emphases, then presents more detailed 

specific research directions by domain. NIDILRR’s research programs have long been aimed at improving 

outcomes among people with disabilities in the three interrelated domains of (1) community living and 

participation, (2) health and function, and (3) employment. Its research agenda for the next 5 years 

builds on current investments and moves them along the stages of R&D while also initiating new 

research on topics that are important and beneficial to people with disabilities. The agency will carry out 

this agenda through thoughtful planning and publication of field-initiated and NIDILRR-initiated grant 

opportunities. 

New Emphases

During the next 5 years, NIDILRR plans to carry out a research agenda that builds on the strengths of its 

existing portfolio and evolves in ways that broaden the agency’s reach and impact. The following 

emphases are derived from the input that NIDILRR received while planning this LRP, the work of its 

grantee network, and the requirements in Title II of the Rehab Act. These emphases will guide NIDILRR’s 

planning and activities for the next 5 years.

1. Emphasis 1: NIDILRR will strive to be a leader as an anti-ableist research organization.

Anti-ableism is strategies and practices that challenge and counter ableism, or discrimination 

and social prejudice against people with disabilities. An anti-ableist research organization 

centers the lived experiences of people with disabilities throughout the organization and its 

operations, acts as a champion for inclusion and accessibility, supports people with disabilities in 

the workplace, and uses updated terminology and images throughout its daily operations.

2. Emphasis 2: NIDILRR will encourage and expand opportunities for inclusion of people with 

disabilities across the research enterprise with intentional strategy and operationalization.

NIDILRR has long valued and advocated for input from people with disabilities in the work it 

funds. In 2024–2028, NIDILRR will deepen and expand the expectation for disability inclusion in 

the activities and grants it sponsors. This commitment to and focus on intentionally inclusive 

teams across its various R&D portfolios requires foresight, commitment, communication, 

engagement, and openness to change among staff, grantees, and applicant organizations. 

Including people with disabilities across the research enterprise means talking about the 

disability identity of individuals and building inclusive research spaces where investigators and 

staff with disabilities are integral members of the research team. For NIDILRR federal staff, this 

means purposeful inclusion of people with disabilities as project officers and research 

administrators. NIDILRR will intentionally invite and encourage the inclusion of people with 

disabilities in the work that it sponsors, which will add depth, relevance, and nuance to findings 

and products that emerge from sponsored R&D projects. In addition, NIDILRR will continue to 

develop and apply administrative infrastructure to solicit and measure the involvement of 

people with disabilities in the agency’s planning and peer review processes, as well as their 

participation in and leadership of NIDILRR grant teams. 
16

3. Emphasis 3: NIDILRR will encourage the adoption of innovative research approaches.

NIDILRR will intentionally invite R&D applications that use new and innovative research 

approaches to generate new knowledge about the experiences and outcomes of people with 

disabilities. These approaches may include, but are not limited to, critical and community-based 

participatory action research (PAR), critical epidemiologies, digital ethnographies, group-level 

analyses of the interaction between individual and environmental-level variables, intersectional 

research methods, and various methods for predictive modeling.

4. Emphasis 4: NIDILRR will expand its visibility and grow the field of disability and rehabilitation 

research through its grantee network.

This commitment means growing and expanding NIDILRR’s reach in terms of applicants, 

grantees, research disciplines, and geographic locations. NIDILRR will expand the pipeline of 

disability research expertise by conducting outreach to organizations, professions, disciplines, 

and researchers who are not yet engaged with NIDILRR. This expansion may include efforts to 

introduce people with disabilities and disability advocacy organizations to researchers in the 

field. It may also include explicit solicitation of R&D focused on populations of people with 

disabilities who have not historically been prominent in NIDILRR’s portfolio. These populations 

may include, but are not limited to, people with disabilities from Native American communities, 

people with a communication disability, people in the limb loss community, people experiencing 

Long COVID, and people with end-stage renal disease or people with disabilities who are on 

kidney or organ transplant lists.

5. Emphasis 5: NIDILRR will encourage research proposals that assess environmental- and systemlevel variables that affect disabled people and the disability community. 

NIDILRR will intentionally invite and prioritize innovative approaches to measuring, quantifying, 

and understanding environmental- and system-level factors and the ways that they shape the 

experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities. NIDILRR grantees understand and apply 

the social model of disability in their research, but most disability researchers are trained in 

behavioral, social, or clinical disciplines in which individuals are the basic unit of measurement 

and analysis. NIDILRR will strengthen disability research by prioritizing new methods and 

approaches for collection and analysis of data about the enabling or disabling characteristics of 

the built and social environments in which individuals live. While some NIDILRR programs, such 

as the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model Systems and the ADA National Network, have been 

exploring the impact of environmental-level variables on outcomes among their target 

populations, additional emphasis on measuring environmental factors will further promote such 

analyses across NIDILRR’s programs and target populations.

6. Emphasis 6: NIDILRR will build its portfolio of international R&D activities. 

The purpose of this portfolio will be to develop new knowledge and methods for the practice of 

rehabilitation in the United States and internationally, and to facilitate an international 

exchange of research-based information and expertise that is beneficial to people with 

disabilities around the world (29 U.S.C. 764(b)(6)). NIDILRR has a responsibility to share the work 

of grantees nationally and internationally, enhance the strengths of its researchers and 

grantees, and act as a key international player in rehabilitation research. This work may involve 

a focus on disabled refugees, including refugees with disabilities in the United States. 
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7. Emphasis 7: NIDILRR will invest in research projects across its entire portfolio that intentionally 

include populations of people with disabilities with the greatest support needs. 

NIDILRR will continue to emphasize that the R&D it sponsors will address the needs, 

experiences, and outcomes of people with disabilities who have the greatest support needs. The 

Rehab Act specifies that the agency must make research grants that have practical applications 

and maximize the full inclusion and integration of people with disabilities, “especially individuals 

with the most significant disabilities” (29 U.S.C. 764(a)(1)). NIDILRR uses the term “people with 

disabilities with the greatest support needs” as it continues to fulfill and emphasize this 

statutory requirement.

8. Emphasis 8: NIDILRR will invest in research projects across its entire portfolio that have an 

intersectional focus. 

NIDILRR will continue to expand its portfolio of disability R&D grants that focus on people with 

disabilities from underserved populations. This emphasis reflects the statutory requirements of 

the Rehab Act and the stakeholder input NIDILRR received about sponsoring research focusing 

on disabled individuals with two or more intersecting identities. Much can still be learned about 

the experiences and outcomes of disabled people who come from underserved communities 

highlighted in Section 2 of Executive Order 13985. There is also a need to measure the 

cumulative impact of disparities resulting from multiple systemic barriers; NIDILRR will continue 

to require that applicants for all of its R&D grants demonstrate that people with disabilities from 

underserved racial and ethnic communities will be included in study samples in sufficient 

numbers to generate knowledge and products relevant to the full diversity of their target 

population. Addressing this emphasis will also include expanding grants made to historically 

Black colleges or universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, American Indian tribal colleges or 

universities, and other institutions of higher education whose minority student enrollment is at 

least 50 percent (29 U.S.C. 718(b)(2)(B)). These grants build research capacity and tend to focus 

recipients’ R&D activities on the experiences of people with disabilities from underserved 

communities. 

9. Emphasis 9: NIDILRR will invest in research projects that focus on children and youth with 

disabilities. 

NIDILRR will welcome and intentionally solicit research applications that focus on the 

experiences and outcomes of children and youth with disabilities, including experiences and 

outcomes in their school communities. Section 504 of the Rehab Act entitles students with 

disabilities to aids and services necessary to meet their educational needs. Section 504 extends 

beyond the classroom to provide equal opportunity to participate in school athletics and 

extracurricular activities and to be educated in settings free from harassment and bullying based 

on their disability. The Rehab Act authorization positions NIDILRR to sponsor research that 

explores how and to what extent these Section 504 rights are being facilitated and realized 

among students with disabilities across the United States. 

10. Emphasis 10: NIDILRR will invest in research projects that focus on adults aging with disability. 

NIDILRR will continue to prioritize and invite R&D activities that focus on the experiences and 

outcomes of adults who are aging with long-term disabilities. NIDILRR research in this area has 

focused primarily on people aging with physical disabilities or aging with intellectual and 

developmental disabilities (I/DD). Under this LRP, its aging portfolio will expand to include a 
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focus on aging with serious mental illness, aging with sensory disabilities, and other specific 

disability populations.

Community Living and Participation Domain

Overview

NIDILRR supports important research within all three of its interrelated outcome domains, but 

community living and participation among people with disabilities is the ultimate outcome of all of the 

agency’s research, development, capacity building, and KT grants. For example, NIDILRR sponsors 

research on health care and rehabilitation not just to improve health and functional abilities but also to

enable people with disabilities to be more active and engaged in their communities. 

NIDILRR aims to improve community living outcomes among people with disabilities by sponsoring R&D 

activities to improve knowledge of the wide variety of factors that promote or hinder community living. 

NIDILRR and its grantees will then apply this new knowledge toward improved policies, practices, 

services, and supports that promote community living outcomes among people with disabilities.

Context for research on community living and participation

The United States continues to prioritize integration and inclusion of people with disabilities through 

active implementation of the ADA, the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, and the Centers for 

Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home and Community-Based Services Settings Rule. For more than 

a quarter of a century the United States has been actively shifting its provision of long-term services and 

supports for people with disabilities into the community and away from institutional settings such as 

nursing homes. As more people with disabilities, including those with the greatest support needs, live in 

and receive services and supports in the community, new research-based knowledge about factors that 

impact community living outcomes is needed to guide and shape the provision of those services. These 

factors include, but are not limited to, federal and state long-term care policies and practices, the 

availability and accessibility of housing and transportation options, the accessibility of the built 

environment, and the availability of direct support providers, peer mentors, and other support services 

in the community. 

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted several of these barriers to community living. For example, the 

shortage of home- and community-based long-term services and supports providers was amplified 

during the pandemic, with a large majority of providers turning away referrals due to lack of adequate 

staffing. The pandemic also exacerbated existing feelings of social isolation and loneliness among people 

with disabilities. 

Accomplishments of past community living and participation research

• Supporting parents/guardians with disabilities. NIDILRR grantees continue to lead the way in 

creating new knowledge about the experience of parenting with a disability and the policies that 

are barriers to and facilitators of positive parenting outcomes among people with a wide variety 

of disabilities. NIDILRR grantees are developing research-based services, supports, and adaptive 

childcare equipment and resources for parents with disabilities.

• Creating evidence-based interventions to support community living. NIDILRR grantees have 

conducted research leading to the development of interventions that improve community living 

outcomes among youth with serious mental health conditions who have been previously placed 

in residential treatment or foster care, or who have been involved in the criminal justice system. 
19

• Generating the evidence for supported decision-making. NIDILRR grantees have conducted 

research toward supported decision-making interventions, which help people with intellectual

disabilities to live more independently in the community. Supported decision-making promotes 

self-determination, independence, and autonomy among people with intellectual disabilities 

and enables them to take more control over their lives and their chosen activities in the 

community.

• Reducing social isolation and loneliness. NIDILRR grantees are conducting research toward the 

development and testing of interventions to increase social connections and to reduce social 

isolation and loneliness among people with disabilities. One of these interventions is being 

developed for application among people with disabilities generally, while another is being 

developed for use among people with serious mental illness.

• Supporting family caregivers to improve community living outcomes. NIDILRR grantees are 

conducting systematic research activities to improve supports and services available to family 

caregivers, with the aim of improving community living outcomes among people with disabilities 

and their caregivers. 

Proposed new community living and participation research agenda

• School experiences among children with disabilities. NIDILRR will support research on the 

school experiences and outcomes among children with disabilities who have 504 plans under 

the Rehab Act. Schools are a primary community in which children with disabilities, including 

children with serious mental health conditions, spend their time. While the Department of 

Education sponsors significant research on the educational and learning outcomes of students 

with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, there is currently very little 

research-based knowledge about how students with disabilities participate in their school 

environments, nor about experience barriers to or facilitators of a positive social experience in 

their schools. 

• Climate change and disability. NIDILRR will support research to better understand how climate 

change and its consequences shape the experiences and community living outcomes among 

people with disabilities.

• Disaster and emergency preparedness among people with disabilities. While NIDILRR has 

previously sponsored research toward disaster and emergency preparedness and emergency 

response practices that are fully inclusive of people with a wide range of disabilities, more work 

is needed to inform and shape inclusive responses to emergency situations that are becoming 

more prevalent. These may include, but are not limited to, mass shooting emergencies and 

intense weather-related emergencies. 

• Accessible travel infrastructure. NIDILRR will continue to sponsor R&D activities toward fully 

accessible air travel and ground travel options for people with disabilities, including research on 

the use of personal wheelchairs for airline travel. NIDILRR will continue to coordinate these 

activities with Federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal 

Aviation Administration, and U.S. Access Board.
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• Accessible housing. NIDILRR will continue to support research and development that focuses on 

accessible housing, and that addresses housing insecurity among people with disabilities. This 

research may include a focus on accessible housing as a community living outcome, or as a 

factor that significantly contributes to achieving other important community living and 

participation outcomes. 

Health and Function Domain

Overview

Maximizing health and function outcomes among people with disabilities is critical to the achievement 

of NIDILRR’s mission and to optimizing community living and employment outcomes. NIDILRR’s health 

and function portfolio stems from its founding as a rehabilitation research agency aimed at developing 

an evidence base for interventions that maximize function, health, and long-term independence among 

people with disabilities. Grants in the health and function domain of NIDILRR’s portfolio in part reflect its 

historical roots in medical rehabilitation research and practice. NIDILRR’s three Model Systems programs 

that focus their research on people living with SCI, TBI, and burn injury are based in medical 

rehabilitation and related clinical settings that serve these populations. These programs focus primarily 

on development and testing of interventions to maximize long-term functional status and health in the 

community following traumatic injury, but they also conduct research toward improved community 

living and employment outcomes. In addition to these medical rehabilitation research programs, 

NIDILRR’s health and function portfolio features an important diversity of research grants that focus on 

promoting positive health outcomes among people with developmental, cognitive, sensory, psychiatric, 

and physical disabilities. 

Context for Research on Health and Function

People with disabilities continue to experience significant health disparities attributable to poor access 

to needed health care services. People with disabilities are significantly more likely than individuals 

without disabilities to be in fair or poor health and to experience a wide variety of diseases and chronic 

conditions. Women with disabilities are more likely to give birth prematurely and have infants with low 

birthweight than are women without disabilities. Relative to people without disabilities, people with 

disabilities are more likely to experience hypertension and heart disease, and these risks often have 

major adverse health outcomes, including reduced longevity. Health disparities between people with 

and without disabilities are often greater among people from underserved communities. For example, 

Black and Latino/a adults with I/DD are more likely to report fair or poor physical and mental health 

compared to White adults with I/DD. As another example, American Indian and Alaskan Native 

populations experience all types of disabilities at higher rates than other racial groups and continue to 

face numerous barriers accessing health services and supports. 

In 2023, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) designated people with disabilities as a population facing 

health disparities. This designation will allow for more NIH-funded research across the various institutes 

that focuses on health care barriers and unmet needs faced by people with disabilities. With their longstanding focus on the health and health care experiences and outcomes among people with disabilities, 

NIDILRR grantees will continue to lead efforts to understand these health disparities, and to develop 

services, supports, policies, and programs to reduce and alleviate them. NIDILRR-sponsored researchers 

are well positioned to lead or collaborate with NIH-funded efforts to better understand and reduce 

health disparities experienced by disabled people. 
21

The COVID-19 pandemic called attention to and worsened many of the existing health disparities 

between people with and without disabilities. People with disabilities were disproportionately impacted 

by the pandemic and experienced delays in care and unmet health care needs, particularly during its

first year. People with I/DD are significantly more likely to die from COVID-19 than the general 

population, spotlighting the need for additional research and resources on adverse health outcomes 

among this population. More broadly, NIDILRR-sponsored research has determined that during the 

COVID-19 pandemic, working-age people with disabilities who received Medicaid home and communitybased services experienced an excess mortality rate that was 26.6 times that of the working-age general 

population under the age of 65. People with disabilities also experienced a variety of unique sources of 

stress and trauma related to the pandemic, such as fears about health care rationing and ableism in 

health care, isolation, and death and illness of loved ones and community members.

Many people with disabilities lack adequate access to health care, rehabilitation, and personal 

assistance services and interventions that meet their needs. Increasing access to these services and 

maximizing health and function outcomes among people with disabilities are critical to their general 

well-being and their fulfillment of their employment and community living goals. Achieving these goals 

requires ongoing research to generate the evidence base for new rehabilitation strategies and for 

refinement of policies, programs, practices, and technologies that lead to improved access, improved 

health and function outcomes, and a reduction in health disparities for people with disabilities. 

NIDILRR’s location within ACL in HHS allows the agency to collaborate and share knowledge with ACL’s 

health-related policy and service delivery programs, as well as with HHS agencies such as the National 

Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Centers 

for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), SAMHSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). NIDILRR’s proximity to these HHS 

agencies informs its research opportunities and provides connections through which grantees can share 

their expertise and research findings with relevant federal organizations. For example, NIDILRR grantees 

from the ADA National Network have been meeting with colleagues from ACL, HRSA, and the HRSAfunded telehealth resource centers to discuss collaborations that can maximize the availability and 

accessibility of telehealth services for people with disabilities.

Accomplishments of past health and function research

• Understanding TBI as a chronic condition. The TBI Model Systems program has been 

instrumental in shaping the field’s understanding of TBI as a chronic health condition that 

requires lifelong management to promote positive health and community living outcomes.

• Promoting mental-health self-management. NIDILRR grantees developed the first-ever mental 

health self-management education referral algorithm, designed to help primary care (and other) 

providers identify and refer their patients to peer-led illness self-management programs, 

including online options during the COVID-19 pandemic, across the United States.

• Preparing clinicians to serve people with disabilities well. NIDILRR grantees provide training, 

practicum experiences, and technical assistance to medical students and residents on effective 

self-directed care, integrated health care, and recovery models to prepare them to better meet 

the needs of adults with serious mental illnesses in primary and specialty care settings.
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• New evidence-based practice guidelines. Following a history of funding to improve assessments 

and treatments for persons with significant TBI, NIDILRR collaborated with the American 

Academy of Neurology and the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine to sponsor the 

development of evidence-based practice guideline recommendations for the diagnosis and 

treatment of people with prolonged disorders of consciousness. 

• New national health goal focused on TBI recovery. NIDILRR’s TBI Model Systems program 

successfully proposed a Healthy People 2030 objective to “increase the percentage of adults 

who can resume more than half of their preinjury activities 5 years after receiving acute 

inpatient rehabilitation for TBI.” This focus on recovery following TBI is now one of a limited 

number of national objectives in the Healthy People 2030 effort, and the NIDILRR-funded TBI 

Model Systems database is the approved data source for monitoring progress toward the goal. 

Proposed new health and function research agenda

• Inclusive Health Measurement. NIDILRR grantees will continue to work directly with people 

with I/DD to systematically develop valid and reliable health measures that people with I/DD can 

directly answer. This emerging, inclusive research infrastructure will allow people with I/DD to 

independently report their health status to researchers and clinicians instead of relying on 

family members or caregivers to serve as their proxy respondents. 

• Expanding the reach of NIDILRR’s Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) research. NIDILRR will build upon the 

strengths of its long-standing SCI research program, by exploring ways in which people with 

non-traumatic spinal cord injuries (ntSCI) can be included in ongoing and future research 

protocols. Inclusion of people with ntSCI, for example people with SCI related to vascular 

conditions, infection, spinal stenosis, or other underlying causes unrelated to external force or 

trauma, has the potential to significantly expand the generalizability of NIDILRR-funded SCI 

research findings. SCI Model Systems grantees have conducted preliminary pilot work to 

demonstrate that they are serving people with ntSCI. More research is needed to better 

understand the experiences and outcomes of people with ntSCI and how they are similar to, or 

different from those of people with traumatic SCI. 

• Improved pregnancy and maternal health outcomes. NIDILRR will continue to sponsor research 

toward evidence-based interventions, services, and supports to improve pregnancy and 

maternal health outcomes among people with disabilities. 

• New advances in prosthetics and orthotics. NIDILRR will revitalize its long-standing portfolio of 

R&D grants in the field of prosthetics and orthotics (P&O). Sponsored work in this area will 

include development and testing of advanced sockets and interfaces that improve the limb 

health and function among P&O users. 

Employment Domain

Overview

NIDILRR supports research on employment to create knowledge that can be used to improve 

employment outcomes among people with disabilities and to close the employment gap between those 

with and without disabilities. Employment is an important component of community living as it leads to 

financial resources that allow people with disabilities to have real choices about how they participate in 

their communities. Areas of research focus within this domain have included improving our 
23

understanding of policies and practices that support employment among people with disabilities, 

development and promotion of employer practices associated with positive employment outcomes 

among people with disabilities, and R&D toward evidence-based services and supports that maximize 

employment outcomes.

NIDILRR has a long history of collaborating with other Federal agencies, such as the Rehabilitation 

Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Education, and the Department of Labor’s Office 

of Disability Employment Policy. These collaborations help NIDILRR and its grantees identify critical 

research questions aimed at examining employment experiences and outcomes among people with 

disabilities. NIDILRR is committed to working closely with these and other partners to improve 

employment outcomes among people with disabilities.

Context for research on employment

The context for NIDILRR-funded work in the area of employment is shaped by a variety of changes in 

federal legislation and public policy, programs, and services. Several emphases in the 2014 Workforce 

Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) remain relevant for people with disabilities. They include 

competitive integrated employment (CIE) as the preferred employment outcome; students’ and young 

adults’ transition to employment; implementation of evidence-based practices in employment and 

training programs; coordination between state vocational rehabilitation, Medicaid, and I/DD agencies; 

and new definitions of customized and supported employment. 

In the past several years, the nature of employment has shifted significantly due to the COVID-19 

pandemic, with greater access to remote work and more flexible schedules. Pandemic-related labor 

shortages created a disproportionate demand for workers, which benefited people with disabilities who 

remained in or entered the labor market. These trends were associated with the historically high rates 

of employment among people with disabilities in 2022, which were systematically documented by 

NIDILRR grantees. If sustained, these changes in workplace practices and labor force trends have the 

potential to benefit people with disabilities, reducing many barriers to employment. Despite these 

positive trends, NIDILRR grantees have also demonstrated that in 2022, the percentage of the disabled 

working-age population that was employed (34.8%) was less than half that among working-age people 

without disabilities (74%). 

As the labor market and the employment landscape continue to evolve with the availability of new 

technology and emerging evidence-based policies, services, and supports, NIDILRR remains committed 

to funding research that leads to continued improvements in the employment experiences and 

outcomes among people with disabilities. 

Accomplishments of past employment research

• Monitoring and reporting labor market trends among people with disabilities. NIDILRR 

grantees systematically produce and provide timely public reports about key economic and 

employment indicators among people with disabilities. NIDILRR grantees produce the monthly 

“national Trends in Disability Employment” (nTIDE) reports and webinars upon release of the 

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report. These reports have been cited by high-profile 

financial and labor market outlets such as Bloomberg.com, the Wall Street Journal, the Los 

Angeles Times, Forbes, and Fortune. 

• Improving employment outcomes among people who are blind or have low vision. NIDILRR 

grantees have demonstrated that an intentional meeting between hiring managers and a 
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vocational rehabilitation professional reduces employers’ implicit bias about the competence of 

potential employees who are blind. NIDILRR grantees have also demonstrated the positive 

impact of a summer work experience program on the employment outcomes of transition-age 

youth who are blind or have low vision. 

• Improving employment outcomes among people with I/DD. NIDILRR grantees have 

demonstrated that youth and young adults with I/DD who participate in a customized 

employment intervention experience significant increases in independence and employment 

outcomes. NIDILRR grantees have also conducted research that demonstrates the positive 

employment outcomes experienced by young adults with I/DD who participate in postsecondary 

education programs. 

• Advancing CIE. NIDILRR grantees are developing the evidence base for a variety of services and 

supports to promote CIE outcomes among people with a wide variety of disabilities.

• Understanding the important role of employers. NIDILRR grantees have moved well beyond the 

study of employer attitudes to generate an evidence base for employer practices that lead to 

strong employment outcomes among people with disabilities.

• Adapting effective employment interventions to support youth with disabilities. NIDILRR 

grantees have adapted the evidence-based intervention, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) 

and IPS Fidelity Scale, to more effectively meet the unique employment needs of youth and 

young adults with serious mental health conditions. 

• Understanding the impact of policy. NIDILRR grantees have generated important new 

knowledge and will continue to conduct systematic research into the ways in which a variety of 

federal, state, and local policies (e.g., Medicaid expansion, and Social Security asset and income 

limits) shape the employment experiences and outcomes of disabled workers. 

Proposed new employment research agenda

• Focus on the needs and experiences of day habilitation program participants. Despite the 

focus on expanding opportunities for CIE and the closure of segregated workshops and 

subminimum wage jobs, many people with disabilities are still being served in day habilitation 

programs instead of working in CIE. There is a need for focused research on the employment 

experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities in these programs. Such research can 

document the experience of program participants and create an evidence base for targeted 

services and supports to achieve their CIE.

• Research toward increased participation in CIE among people with disabilities. The 

Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has described a number of 

priorities to be pursued that can increase CIE among people with disabilities. They include 

employment first policies, restructuring reimbursement rates to incentivize CIE, building 

capacity of state and provider staff to support and prioritize CIE, interagency coordination, and 

employer engagement, among others. NIDILRR will continue to consult and collaborate with 

ODEP to ensure that its employment research resonates with and supports these priorities. 

• Systematically building the evidence base for services, supports, and interventions that 

promote CIE among people with disabilities. NIDILRR will intentionally create opportunities for 
25

disability employment research that advances the knowledge base about the efficacy and 

scalability of specific interventions for specific populations of workers with disabilities. Such 

interventions may focus on individual characteristics, on environmental-level factors such as 

policies or employer practices, or on both. NIDILRR will intentionally apply its “stages of 

research” and “stages of development” frameworks to help grow the availability of evidencebased interventions that can be applied in communities and settings throughout the United 

States.

Technology for Access and Function

Overview

NIDILRR supports research, development, and adoption of technology products to promote positive 

outcomes among people with disabilities in the domains of health and function, community living and 

participation, and employment. NIDILRR’s investments in the development of technology have broadly 

and positively impacted people with disabilities and American society as a whole. 

Technology is the application of knowledge through scientific means to solve practical problems. 

NIDILRR-sponsored activities toward new technologies generate knowledge, models, methods, tools, 

standards, applications, devices, and systems that promote positive outcomes among diverse 

populations of people with disabilities. They result in products that can be made available to people 

with disabilities and to those who provide them with services and supports. NIDILRR supports the 

transfer of products into use in the community through work with partner organizations such as 

manufacturers and distributors. 

NIDILRR recognizes four key types of technology that are beneficial to people with disabilities. NIDILRR 

categorizes these technology types to highlight the multiple practical ways that technology researchers 

and engineers in the field can contribute to improved outcomes among people with disabilities: 

• Rehabilitation technologies restore, maintain, or slow the decline of function among people 

with disabilities. 

• Assistive technologies address activity and participation difficulties encountered by people with 

disabilities by augmenting, compensating for the loss of, or restoring function to improve 

performance. 

• Service technologies facilitate the provision of rehabilitation, assistive technology, training, and 

other interventions to people with disabilities. 

• Systems technologies provide improved access to and use of critical infrastructures utilized by 

people with disabilities and others in the general population. They include information and 

communication technology, the built environment, public transportation, and health care 

infrastructures and equipment. 

NIDILRR has long recognized the importance of the field of rehabilitation engineering to the health and 

function, community living, and employment of people with disabilities. Rehabilitation engineering is 

concerned with research toward technologies to evaluate, diagnose, restore, or maintain a person’s 

physical, sensory, communicative, or cognitive functions, or slow their decline, so as to promote full 

inclusion and participation in the community. Rehabilitation engineering generally leads to rehabilitation 

and assistive technologies.
26

Context for R&D toward technology for access and function

Advances in scientific knowledge and technologies are rapid and accelerating. High-powered and longlasting batteries, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, pervasive information, big 

data and analytics, rapid design and fabrication, advanced materials, micro-electro-mechanical systems, 

sensor technologies, and advanced communication technologies may all be adapted or built upon to 

address specific circumstances and needs of people with disabilities. Automation and robotics 

techniques continue to show strong potential to improve many aspects of community mobility and 

travel. Rapid ongoing changes in all of these areas must be harnessed toward the development of new 

technologies that promote the full societal participation and integration of people with disabilities. New 

products and technologies that arise from these advances must be designed so as to ensure that people 

with disabilities can fully use them.

The need for remote, virtual, and hybrid supports and services during the COVID-19 pandemic 

accelerated use and adoption of virtual communication platforms, telemedicine, and other virtual 

services. This shift toward greater use of virtual communications and services has highlighted the 

importance of accessibility and usability of information and communication technologies among people 

with disabilities. Despite civil rights protections in the Rehab Act and the ADA, a large percentage of 

websites are inaccessible for many populations of people with disabilities. The digital divide can make 

the use of technology-based communications and services difficult for people with disabilities. People 

with disabilities are significantly less likely than those with disabilities to own a computer and are 

significantly less likely to have technology components that allow access to high-speed internet services. 

Within this broad context of rapid technological advances as well as ongoing access barriers, NIDILRR is 

committed to sponsoring advanced R&D toward technologies that promote positive health and 

function, community living and participation, and employment outcomes among people with 

disabilities.

Accomplishments of past technology R&D

• Improving telecommunications access. NIDILRR grantees have contributed to significant 

innovations and system changes in the area of telecommunications access. They include 

research-based provision of real-time text in wireless phones, video relay services, and access to 

9-1-1 services. These and related advances allow people who are deaf and hard of hearing to 

communicate directly with hearing counterparts. NIDILRR R&D in this area has, for the first time 

in history, allowed people who are both deaf and blind to communicate with sighted people in a 

standardized way.

• Improving gait rehabilitation and function. NIDILRR grantees have contributed to significant 

innovations in robotic and exoskeleton-based rehabilitation strategies for improved mobility and 

manipulation among children with cerebral palsy. These innovations include a modular overground, robotic training platform that augments walking capability and leads to effective loading 

and efficient functional gait during walking practice.

• Greater access to exercise opportunities. NIDILRR grantees have made important contributions 

in the area of exercise accessibility among people with disabilities. These contributions include 

research toward exercise-monitoring technologies for use by wheelchair users and online tools 

to promote community-based physical activity among youth with disabilities. NIDILRR grantees 

have developed accessible exercise equipment, active video game controllers adapted for use 
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by people with disabilities, virtual environments to socially motivate recreational exercise, and 

standards for the universal design of fitness equipment.

• Shaping communication technologies. A NIDILRR grantee has advanced the science and practice 

of alternative/augmentative communication (AAC) by creating a new way for people with 

communication disabilities to use their communication devices. Another NIDILRR grantee has 

developed visual scene displays (VSDs) for communication devices, which are an alternative to 

traditional grid displays that have isolated symbols presented in rows and columns. VSDs are 

context-specific photos or pictures that people can use to communicate with others. The 

grantee has successfully transferred this technology to major manufacturers of AAC hardware 

and software.

Proposed new technology R&D agenda

• Balancing field-initiated and agency-initiated opportunities. NIDILRR will maintain a strong 

balance of field-initiated and agency-initiated R&D opportunities that lead to needed 

innovations in rehabilitation technologies, assistive technologies, service technologies, and 

system technologies. 

• Participatory action design and engineering. As in all other areas of NIDILRR’s portfolio, the 

agency will strengthen requirements for inclusion of people with disabilities on sponsored 

technology-focused research teams. By promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities on 

the staff of Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) and other grant mechanisms 

that support technology development, NIDILRR will promote the practice of participatory action 

design and engineering (PADE). This practice will increase the successful development and use 

of NIDILRR-funded technologies in the real world by incorporating the inclusion and 

engagement of people with disabilities from conceptualization to commercialization. 

• Advances in recreational, sport, and exercise technologies. NIDILRR will continue to support 

and emphasize the need for new, improved, and affordable recreational, sport, and exercise 

technologies for use by people with disabilities. Emerging artificial intelligence tools show 

promise for creation and personalization of exercise options for people with disabilities, based 

on their individual capacities and interests and the facilities and equipment available to them. 

Rapid design and fabrication capacities in the field make it increasingly feasible to develop and 

mass-market accessible sports equipment that was once only available to elite Paralympic 

athletes. 

• Accessible travel. NIDILRR will continue to support R&D activities that improve local and longdistance travel options for people with disabilities. They will include ongoing work toward the 

physical, cognitive, and sensory accessibility of emerging autonomous vehicles, as well as design 

of commercial aircraft spaces and technologies to allow the use of personal wheelchairs as 

airline seating. 

• Smart home technologies. NIDILRR will support affordable smart home technologies that 

enable or assist people with disabilities to live more independently in their homes. They will 

include, but are not limited to, the ongoing development of smart and accessible living spaces, 

kitchens, and bathrooms. With the ongoing development of the “internet of things,” there are 
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opportunities to develop smart home environments with accessible remote control of home 

appliances, security systems, and other home features. 

• Robotics applications. NIDILRR will support R&D building upon recent developments in robotics, 

human–robot interaction, and artificial intelligence in rehabilitation technology applications. 

These recent advances have led to significant capacities for robot-assisted neurological, 

musculoskeletal, and cognitive training and rehabilitation for people who have experienced 

stroke or other neurological events or injuries. 

• Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality applications. NIDILRR will support research into 

rehabilitation applications of immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, 

and mixed reality. These technologies can transport people with disabilities into stimulating 

virtual environments, enabling them to practice functional movements, exercises, and activities 

in a safe, controlled, and entertaining setting. These immersive experiences can enhance 

rehabilitation motivation as well as the tracking of progress and provision of real-time feedback 

to users. 

• Sensor technology applications. NIDILRR also aims to sponsor R&D that capitalizes on recent 

advances in sensor technology, which is increasingly being used in hospitals, clinics, homes, and 

community settings. For example, wireless sensors for continuous, multimodal measurements at 

the skin interface with prosthetic, orthotic, and wheeled mobility devices may improve comfort 

and help protect against skin breakdown. Sensors can be used for personal health care, home 

health monitoring, and other continuous real-time monitoring applications in the clinic or 

community. Wearable sensor technologies, which include sensor gloves, wristlets, shoes, 

glasses, and other devices, show promise for facilitating and guiding rehabilitation services. 

However, designing these devices as nonobtrusive and intuitive systems for longer-term home 

and community use by people with disabilities may dramatically broaden their range of 

applications.

Disability Statistics and Demographics Research

Overview

Like its technology R&D portfolio, NIDILRR sponsors work in disability statistics and demographics to 

support positive outcomes in each of NIDILRR’s three outcome domains. Synthesizing and promoting the 

use of the growing amount of disability data collected each year by the federal government and others 

generates a greater understanding of the needs, experiences, and outcomes of people with disabilities. 

Valid and reliable disability data provide current information about the prevalence of disability in the 

United States and the social and demographic characteristics of the disability population. The capacity 

for disability data collection and analysis is particularly important following the publication of Executive 

Order 13985. This order includes people with disabilities among the underserved communities for 

whom federal agencies must affirmatively advance equity, civil rights, justice, and equal opportunity. 

High-quality data about the characteristics, needs, experiences, and outcomes of people with disabilities 

are critical to providing the evidence base needed to shape these governmentwide efforts. 
29

Context for R&D in disability statistics and demographics

People with disabilities have historically been excluded from many data collection and research efforts. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people with disabilities were not considered or differentiated in COVID19 vaccine trials. People with disabilities are routinely excluded from clinical research studies without 

justification, making it difficult to generalize study results to this critical population. NIDILRR’s focus on 

disability statistics and demographic research aims to address the widespread lack of data about people 

with disabilities by ensuring that people with disabilities are purposefully included and identified in 

federal data collection efforts, federally sponsored research efforts, and other data collection initiatives. 

Disability has been defined differently across various federal entities, making it difficult to collect, 

combine, or compare data generated by different agencies. Given these challenges, Section 4302 of the 

Affordable Care Act selected the six-question sequence of disability identifiers included in the American 

Community Survey (ACS) as the standard for population health survey data collection efforts. These six 

questions assess difficulty with hearing, vision, cognition, ambulation, self-help, and independent living. 

Respondents who report having one or more of the six types of disabilities included in the questions are 

considered to have a disability. 

While researchers have noted limitations to the six ACS questions, having these standardized measures 

included in national surveys year after year and across multiple efforts with different purposes has 

greatly expanded the data capacity to create new knowledge about the characteristics, needs, 

experiences, and outcomes of people with disabilities.

In 1982, NIDILRR convened the first meeting of the member agencies of what is now known as the 

Interagency Subcommittee on Disability Statistics (ISDS) to coordinate and promote the generation of 

improved data and statistical knowledge about disability populations. In recent years, the NIDILRR 

director has revitalized the ISDS, which meets on a regular basis to advance this important work. 

Despite advances in the identification of people with disabilities in data collection efforts in the United 

States, disability questions are not regularly included in the majority of national censuses and household 

surveys internationally. NIDILRR’s focus on disability statistics and demographic research capacity in this 

country can inform international efforts and capacity to collect valid and reliable information from and

about people with disabilities in other countries.

Accomplishments of past R&D in disability statistics and demographics

• Rural disability data. NIDILRR grantees have worked to expand the availability and quality of 

data focused on people with disabilities living in rural areas. NIDILRR grantees have collaborated 

to conduct analyses of rural indicators in existing large datasets and have begun to provide 

research-based knowledge about the experiences of people with disabilities living in rural areas. 

• Disability data collection. NIDILRR grantees have published analyses describing the disability 

populations that are not accurately identified by the ACS six items currently included in federal 

data collection efforts. These NIDILRR-generated analyses will inform future modification and 

strengthening of these items.

• Longitudinal databases. Across multiple decades, NIDILRR’s Model Systems grantees have been 

creating and maintaining invaluable longitudinal datasets that describe the characteristics and 

life trajectories of people who have experienced SCI, TBI, or burn injury. These publicly available 

datasets are the largest longitudinal datasets in the world that focus on their respective 
30

populations. NIDILRR’s Model Systems datasets have been used to generate hundreds of 

publications that provide information for people living with traumatic injuries, their families, and 

the clinicians and others who provide them with services and supports. 

• Disability statistical resources. The Annual Disability Statistics compendium produced by the 

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics continues 

to provide high-quality disability statistical resources for people with disabilities, policymakers, 

and managers of programs at federal, state, and local levels. 

Proposed new disability statistics and demographics research agenda

• Facilitate the modernization of disability data infrastructure. NIDILRR and its grantees will 

continue disability research that informs the modernization of disability infrastructure, such as 

sampling strategies, data collection instruments and approaches, data-linking techniques, and 

data dashboards. These efforts will contribute to the growing availability of high-quality, 

detailed disability statistics about populations and subpopulations of people with disabilities. 

• Promote the use of NIDILRR-funded datasets. The ACL public access plan requires that NIDILRR 

grantees make their NIDILRR-funded data available to the public no more than 2 years following 

the end of their grants. This requirement took effect among new grantees in 2018, and NIDILRRfunded data from many grants will begin to be available in 2023 and future years. NIDILRR and 

its grantees will promote the public’s access to and use of these rich data sources. Such public 

use of NIDILRR-funded data has the potential to expand the knowledge that can be generated 

from NIDILRR’s limited resources. 

• Generate high-quality environmental-level data. NIDILRR will create innovative opportunities 

for researchers to systematically collect and analyze data about the enabling or disabling 

characteristics of the environments in which people live.

ADA Technical Assistance, Training, and Research

Overview

NIDILRR funds a network of 10 regional centers that provide information, training, and technical 

assistance to assist individuals and entities in understanding their rights and responsibilities under the 

ADA. These 10 regional centers, along with the ADA Knowledge Translation Center (ADAKTC) and the 

ADA Collaborative Research Project, comprise what NIDILRR refers to as the ADA National Network. This 

grant program has evolved from its establishment in 1991 into a coordinated national training and 

technical assistance program that implements national outreach initiatives, conducts rigorous ADA 

research studies, and collects data on the outcomes of its work. The ADA regional centers function 

independently—as they provide resources, information, and training to constituents within their 

respective regions—and collectively, to develop national resource materials, training programs, and 

outreach efforts that respond to national needs. The ADAKTC facilitates coordinated interaction among 

the centers and works to optimize the outcomes of the network and to promote effective use of 

network resources and information.

Context for Technical Assistance, Training, and Research

The ADA National Network program is the only federally sponsored national network of centers 

dedicated to providing information, technical assistance, and training on the ADA. The Network also 
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conducts research to generate new knowledge about barriers to ADA compliance, strategies for the 

ADA’s effective implementation, and greater understanding of stakeholders’ need for and use of ADA 

National Network services. ADA training, technical assistance, and research activities conducted by the 

Network continue to evolve as new social, technological, and legal contexts emerge.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Network’s development of a variety of key 

resources for the disability community, employers, and public health practitioners, including a website 

featuring information on disability and COVID-19 and public webinars on such topics as equitable health

care for persons with disabilities and inclusion of persons with disabilities in emergency management 

and preparedness practices. The Network also produced various technical assistance resources, such as 

a fact sheet on the accessibility of drive-thru medical sites and an audio conference on COVID-19 and 

return to work.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the delivery of a large number of health services via online 

telemedicine platforms and led to acceleration in use of online platforms for working at home. These 

rapid shifts to the use of online platforms to support important social and commercial interactions led 

the Network to quickly develop expertise and materials to maximize ADA implementation in new online 

environments. 

In the coming years there are a number of anticipated amendments to ADA regulations and guidance. 

These anticipated changes focus on accessibility of medical diagnostic equipment, websites and online 

systems, and sidewalks and other pedestrian facilities in the public rights-of-way. The ADA National 

Network will be heavily involved in addressing training and technical assistance requests related to 

these and other advances in the coming years.

Finally, the growing racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the U.S. population requires new regional and 

national outreach efforts to help ensure effective ADA implementation across communities. This 

includes being able to educate immigrants and refugees about the ADA and its protections and

providing more targeted and culturally relevant outreach to other specific underrepresented 

communities.

Accomplishments of the ADA Network’s Technical Assistance, Training, and Research

• California’s Office of Emergency Services used the ADA Network’s document entitled 

Accessibility at Drive-Thru Medical Sites to guide local efforts to provide accessible drive-thru 

vaccine clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston, TX) used maps and data 

produced by the ADA National Network’s collaborative research project to focus their sidewalk 

improvement efforts on transit stops most frequently used by people with disabilities.

• The Illinois Department of Human Services used ADA National Network resources to help 

evaluate whether their disability service systems were in compliance with ADA requirements 

and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision. 

• The ADA National Network developed materials to address barriers to ADA implementation that 

are unique to rural health care settings. 

Proposed ADA National Network agenda

• Provide outreach to underrepresented communities, and work to understand their information 

and technical assistance needs related to the ADA. 
32

• Implement a systematic national Spanish language outreach program. 

• Expand efforts to understand the racial and ethnic diversity of each region’s population, toward 

development of tools and initiatives to meet their unique ADA information needs.

• Continue to serve as a neutral source of information for federal enforcement agencies regarding 

emerging community needs and information gaps related to the ADA. 

• Continue to analyze data and information collected during the ADA National Network’s delivery 

of services in order to document successes and to guide future services.

Activities That Promote the Quality and Use of NIDILRR-Sponsored Research

Knowledge Translation (KT)

Overview

NIDILRR defines KT as the multidimensional, active process of ensuring that new knowledge and 

products developed through research ultimately improve the lives of people with disabilities and further 

their participation in society. KT requires ongoing interactions, partnerships, and collaborations among 

various stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, policymakers, people with disabilities, and 

others. The process of KT, which is applicable to both technological and nontechnological knowledge 

and products, includes knowledge creation, knowledge dissemination, knowledge use or 

implementation, and evaluation of impact/outcomes. KT is a critical component of NIDILRR’s mission 

and enables NIDILRR to promote the effective use of knowledge and products developed through its 

funded research.

Context for knowledge translation

For KT to be successful, new knowledge or products must address real issues faced by people with 

disabilities, offer helpful information or solutions related to those issues, be presented in ways that are 

accessible to the intended users, and be disseminated or distributed effectively. As users become aware 

of new knowledge or a new product, they can make informed decisions about using it to change 

behavior, practice, policy, or systems to improve the lives of people with disabilities and further their 

participation in society. 

It is crucial that researchers involve people with disabilities and other stakeholders in all components of 

KT to maximize the relevance, feasibility, usability, and reach of the new knowledge or products. 

Stakeholders include not only people with disabilities who may use the knowledge or product but also 

other interested parties, such as family members of people with disabilities, caregivers, practitioners, 

policymakers, employers, Centers for Independent Living staff members, disability advocates, peer 

supporters, educators, assistive device manufacturers, and insurance companies. These and other 

stakeholders offer valuable perspectives on contexts in which the knowledge or product will be used. 

Different types of knowledge or products have different stakeholders, depending on their anticipated 

use and the contexts of their use. The input of a variety of stakeholders, or the lack of such input, can 

impact the likelihood that new knowledge or products will be used in the future. 

Accomplishments

NIDILRR continues to expand and enhance its KT approach and repertoire, which includes intentional 

requirements for inclusion of stakeholders in NIDILRR-funded activities. For example, NIDILRR explicitly 

requires applicants and grantees to include people with disabilities and other relevant stakeholders as 
33

partners or collaborators in the research process and in activities related to dissemination, use or 

implementation, and evaluation of impact. NIDILRR has also recently strengthened its peer review 

criteria to better value the recruitment of people with disabilities and people from other underserved 

populations onto proposed grantee teams. By emphasizing the importance of including people with 

disabilities and other stakeholders in the disability research process, NIDILRR is naturally increasing the 

relevance of its funded work and the likelihood that stakeholders will use NIDILRR-generated knowledge 

and products in the future. 

NIDILRR grantees are conducting research toward more effective KT in disability research. They are 

generating findings that contribute to effective KT within the disability and rehabilitation research field. 

Examples include, among others, research findings that describe the information needs of people with 

disabilities and other stakeholders, including those from diverse and underserved communities; 

information on applicable and effective KT strategies; and a new research framework that focuses on 

enhancing usability of research findings for clinical practice in rehabilitation. NIDILRR continues to fund 

KT centers to provide technical assistance to grantees as they plan and conduct KT activities to further 

promote the use of NIDILRR-funded work. In addition, NIDILRR’s KT centers offer training opportunities 

to build capacity in various aspects of KT for grantees and other disability and rehabilitation researchers. 

NIDILRR has also made steady progress in implementing the ACL Public Access LRP, under which NIDILRR 

grantees are required to make their peer-reviewed publications and scientific data available to the 

public at no cost. Through incremental implementation since 2017, all applicable NIDILRR-funded grants 

are now required to comply with these public access requirements. This successful implementation will 

further promote the use of results from NIDILRR-funded work by the public.

Proposed KT Agenda

In the next 5 years, NIDILRR will further its KT agenda through the following LRP goals:

• Implement and strengthen the requirements for inclusion of people with disabilities and other 

relevant stakeholders in all of its funded research, development, and related activities.

• Continue to fund KT grants in different content areas to provide KT support and capacity 

building for NIDILRR grantees. These KT grants will further advance understanding and 

applications of KT in the disability context and promote the use of NIDILRR-funded work.

• Explore ways to strengthen KT and further promote the use of NIDILRR-funded work through 

NIDILRR grant-making processes as appropriate.

• Expand and strengthen NIDILRR’s requirements for making grantee peer-reviewed publications 

and scientific data publicly accessible, in concert with public access guidance from the White 

House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

• Strengthen and expand connections with disability, independent living, and rehabilitation 

research stakeholders within and outside the federal government. Through these connections 

NIDILRR will gather input into NIDILRR-funded work and raise stakeholder awareness and use of 

new knowledge and products that emerge from it.

• Explore ways to build early KT capacity among students, fellows, and early career researchers 

who receive training as part of NIDILRR-funded grants.
34

Capacity Building

Overview

NIDILRR funds capacity-building grants and activities toward ensuring that well-trained research 

personnel conduct high-quality research activities that result in new knowledge and products in the field 

of disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research. Title II of the Rehab Act, as amended, 

authorizes NIDILRR to build capacity for carrying out high-quality disability, independent living, and 

rehabilitation research by facilitating advanced training that includes trainees from people with 

disabilities and other underserved populations. The NIDILRR Switzer Research Fellowship Program 

(Switzer) and Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program (ARRT) both fulfill these statutory 

mandates. In addition, grantees in NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs) and

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) programs are required to provide research training 

to investigators who are early in their research careers. 

Context for capacity building

Capacity building is important to demonstrate investment in researchers and support the next 

generation of collaborators, investigators, and students. NIDILRR’s Switzer Program builds research 

capacity by annually providing one-year grants to individual researchers to conduct independent 

rehabilitation research projects that further NIDILRR’s mission. Fellowships are awarded competitively 

through peer review, with selection based on the applicant’s qualifications and experience and on the 

strength of their proposed research project. Prospective fellows may apply for Merit Fellowships if they 

are at the start of their careers in disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research. Applicants 

may request Distinguished Fellowships, funded at a somewhat higher level than Merit Fellowships, if 

they have more independent research experience. NIDILRR has awarded more than 300 Switzer 

Fellowships over the years. 

NIDILRR’s ARRT Program funds institutions of higher education to provide postdoctoral training, 

supporting approximately 70 research fellows every year. The goal of the program is to deliver advanced 

multidisciplinary training in disability and rehabilitation research to individuals with doctorates or similar 

advanced degrees who have clinical or other relevant experience (see Figure 9). ARRT fellows gain 

knowledge and experience in research methodology, the conduct of research, grant writing, and the 

presentation and dissemination of research findings, as well as practicum experience with organizations 

representing individuals with disabilities. This training supports NIDILRR’s mission by preparing 

individuals to conduct independent, high-quality research related to disability, independent living, and 

rehabilitation to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities. 
35

Figure 9. Activities Funded under NIDILRR’s ARRT Program.

Section 21 of the Rehab Act describes findings about the relationship between disability, race, and 

ethnicity in the United States and notes ongoing inequitable rehabilitation service provision experienced 

by people with disabilities who are from underserved racial and ethnic populations. To help address 

these inequities, Section 21 requires that NIDILRR make awards directly to minority entities or to other 

institutions to provide outreach and technical assistance to minority entities. NIDILRR meets this 

requirement by making awards directly to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving 

institutions of higher education, American Indian tribal colleges or universities, and other institutions of 

higher education whose minority student enrollment is at least 50 percent. Under Section 21 of the 

Rehab Act, NIDILRR will continue to build capacity in the field by growing its portfolio of grants made 

directly to minority entities to include RRTCs, ARRTs, Field-Initiated Projects (FIP), and other grant 

programs. 

Accomplishments of past capacity building work

NIDILRR has been focused on strengthening the disability, independent living, and rehabilitation 

research workforce through increasing research training opportunities for people with disabilities and 

people from groups identified as underrepresented in the scientific workforce.

The research enterprise benefits from diverse perspectives. NIDILRR has enhanced requirements in the 

ARRT Program for recruitment of people with disabilities and people from groups identified as 

underrepresented in the scientific workforce to ensure institutions of higher education create inclusive 

recruiting procedures and support diversity through their ARRT projects. Applicants to the ARRT 

Program must include plans for recruiting people with disabilities. Applicants may also include plans for 

recruiting people from other groups identified as underrepresented in the scientific workforce. Similarly, 

in soliciting applications for the Switzer Program, NIDILRR specifies its particular interest in receiving 

applications from people with disabilities, people from groups identified as underrepresented in the 

scientific workforce, and people from other underserved communities.

Mentorship is critically important to the professional development of researchers and integral to 

postdoctoral and other research training. NIDILRR has enhanced the requirements for mentorship in the 

ARRT Program. Applicants to the ARRT Program must include plans for both academic and career 

mentoring and must describe how they will foster the relationship between their ARRT fellows and 

mentors.
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Proposed new capacity building agenda

To continue to build capacity in the disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research workforce, 

there is a need to engage and support individuals, including people with disabilities and people from 

other underrepresented groups, throughout the training and career pipeline. NIDILRR has historically 

focused on postdoctoral individuals, but it is important to invest earlier in the capacity pipeline. Doing 

this includes creating pathways for current students to be eligible for grant funding. As such, NIDILRR 

aims to extend training opportunities through the ARRT Program to graduate and undergraduate 

students and the Switzer program for doctoral students. These opportunities could include research 

experiences to expose students to career options in the field of disability and rehabilitation research or 

immersive, project-based research experiences to prepare recent graduates to pursue advanced 

degrees or other research-related career opportunities in the field of disability and rehabilitation 

research.

Strategies are also needed to engage and support disability and rehabilitation researchers with training 

specific to NIDILRR’s programs and funding opportunities. NIDILRR will develop communication 

materials to inform potential applicants about NIDILRR’s mission, programs, and funding opportunities, 

focusing on materials for potential applicants who are new to NIDILRR’s grants process and programs. 

NIDILRR also will develop grant resources across the life cycle of grants for new and existing applicants. 

These communication materials and supportive resources can enhance the number and diversity of 

candidates for disability and rehabilitation extramural research funding and the inclusivity of the grants 

process. 

Summary

This LRP builds on the commitments and accomplishments of the last LRP as well as the perspectives of 

those with disabilities, researchers, advocates, and caregivers. All of NIDILRR’s work will continue to be 

driven by the understanding that disability is a function of dynamic interactions between the individual 

and their social and physical environment. In addition, NIDILRR will continue to emphasize the need for 

embracing disability as a form of diversity and the need for combatting ableist stereotypes.

The research agenda for this LRP identifies ten new emphases that will guide NIDILRR’s planning and 

activities for the next five years and will help to broaden NIDILRR’s reach and impact, including an 

emphasis on international exchanges, intersectionality, inclusion of people with disabilities across the 

research enterprise, and children and youth with disabilities. Embracing these new emphases, NIDILRR 

will continue to invest in applied research across the domains of community living and participation, 

health and function, and employment as well as supporting areas (i.e., technology, disability statistics, 

and implementation of the ADA).

Through its portfolio of research and related activities, NIDILRR will generate new knowledge, develop 

new products and interventions, and promote their adoption to shape policy, practice, and behaviors. In 

the long term, it is NIDILRR’s aim that these efforts will help reduce and eliminate long-standing 

disparities between people with and without disabilities in the domains of health and function, 

employment, and community living and participation.