ICDR Update: November 2020

Message from the Chair

Greetings,

The mission of the ICDR is critical to interagency coordination of disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research program efforts across the Federal government. To this end, the ICDR is working to implement the Government-wide Strategic Plan that is framing the goals and objectives of the Committee.

The ICDR and working groups submitted the Plan and obtained clearance April 26, 2019 and have been working diligently to accomplish the goals and objectives established in the Plan. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the manner in which we function as an organization, but not the nature of our work. Virtual collaboration has been a necessary and practical approach to maintaining the ICDR’s momentum toward accomplishing our goals.

We are particularly enthusiastic about the progress of the Government Wide Inventory (GWI) work group that continues to work toward the planning, design and deployment of a searchable GWI for disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research for trend and data analysis across all Federal agencies. NIDILRR is currently working to schedule a launch date with NICHD and NCMRR.

We are looking forward to the Employment and Education (EE) work group’s presentation of a virtual symposium on evidence-based transition strategies that is planned for spring 2021.

This unique interagency disability research collaboration has served to promote the exchange of information and foster coordination among the member departments and agencies. The ICDR is making great progress and we eagerly anticipate the outcomes of the work that is underway.

If you would like more information about the work of the ICDR, please email inquiries, comments, or requests to the support team at ICDRinfo@neweditions.net.

Kristi Hill, PhD
Chair ICDR

Rasheda Q. Parks, PhD
Executive Director ICDR

Executive Committee Met in June and September

The Executive Committee met virtually on June 10, 2020 and September 16, 2020 to focus on the implementation of the Strategic Plan, update the committee on working group activities, share agency updates, and discuss the impact of COVID-19 on federal disability research. The committee and working groups discussed the implementation of activities outlined in the plan. The Government-Wide Inventory working group is continuing their efforts to build the inventory of interagency research data.

The meeting minutes can be found on the ICDR Website: https://icdr.acl.gov/. The committee will meet again on December 10, 2020.

The ICDR published three toolkits related to housing, independent living, and health disparities. The toolkits were developed as resources for the ICDR, federals partners, and stakeholders. The ICDR also published resources related to the history and significance of the ICDR.

Federal Housing Resources for People with Disabilities

The ICDR Housing Toolkit provides resources to facilitate further federally-funded research in the area of housing and to foster interagency collaboration in the field of housing resources for people with disabilities. The toolkit provides current housing resources, examples of best practices across the United States, current federally-funded research being conducted, measurement tools, web resources, and trainings. Additionally, this toolkit reviews unexplored areas related to housing resources for people with disabilities and highlights areas that could benefit from further research and interagency collaboration. The toolkit is posted on the ICDR website at this link: https://icdr.acl.gov/resources/reports/federal-housing-resources-people-disabilities-toolkit-interagency-collaboration.

Research Plan for Examining Centers for Independent Living (CIL) Outcomes: Past and Present Research and Areas for Future Exploration and Collaboration

The ICDR Community Participation and Integration (CIL) Toolkit describes CIL services and recent relevant legislation, discusses past research by time period and topic area, and examines current research and best practices by topic area. This toolkit also discusses considerations for future studies, to include possible topic areas, interagency collaboration and goals, and promising practices related to study design. This research plan is designed to examine past research on CIL services and outcomes and to identify topic areas and research design elements that can help move forward the understanding of CIL impacts on consumers. The toolkit is posted on the ICDR website at this link: https://icdr.acl.gov/resources/reports/research-plan-examining-centers-independent-living-cils-outcomes.

Toolkit on Health Disparities and Disabilities in Research

The ICDR initiated a focus on inclusion of people with disabilities among health and wellness research as well as broader public health programs and initiatives that include people with disabilities as a target population. The purpose of the toolkit on health disparities and disabilities in research is to present resources across federal agencies, federal grantees, and non-federal entities conducting health and wellness research and implementing public health programs and initiatives. This toolkit highlights best practices and effective strategies for including people with disabilities as a priority audience or target population. It features existing resources and programs as they relate to each topic area in order to help address the existing disparities and presents areas for future research related to health disparities and people with disabilities. It is meant to help facilitate further research and collaboration by federal agencies and departments around the health disparities of people with disabilities. It also pulls together identified best practices and effective strategies for disability inclusion for researchers and the public to address these health disparities. The toolkit is posted on the ICDR website at this link: https://icdr.acl.gov/resources/reports/health-disparities-and-disabilities-research-toolkit-interagency-collaboration.

Interagency Committee on Disability Research: History and Significance

The ICDR mission is to promote coordination and collaboration among federal departments and agencies conducting disability, independent living (IL), and rehabilitation research programs, including programs related to assistive technology (AT) research and research that incorporates the principles of universal design (UD). This resource highlights the importance of the ICDR’s role within the disability community, the ICDR’s achievements, and a future outlook. This resource is posted on the ICDR website at this link: https://icdr.acl.gov/resources/reports/interagency-committee-disability-research-history-and-significance.

Interagency Committee on Disability Research Timeline

This timeline highlights the ICDR’s activities, accomplishments, and events from 1978 through the present. It includes topics of accessibility, health disparities, employment, stakeholder input, among others. The timeline is posted to the ICDR website at this link: https://icdr.acl.gov/resources/reports/interagency-committee-disability-research-icdr-timeline.

COVID-19 Resources from ICDR Member Agencies

ICDR members have shared a number of resources related to COVID-19. If you have resources related to COVID-19 you would like to share, please email them to ICDRinfo@neweditions.net.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has created a webpage specific to COVID-19 that includes federal resources and general information in an effort to link resources related to disability and autism: https://iacc.hhs.gov/resources/coronavirus/.
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has a webpage of resources for older adults and people with disabilities around COVID-19: https://acl.gov/COVID-19.
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) has a number of resources that offer guidance related to COVID-19. These include a variety of Q&A resources related to topics like vocational rehabilitation services and fiscal management of VR program. The resources can be found on https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus.