What's Happening at the Lurie Institute
Monika Mitra, Director of the Lurie Institute, Interviewed for Mother Jones Magazine
Lurie Institute director Monika Mitra was interviewed for Julia Métraux's articles on eugenics, sterilization, and the pregnancy rights of disabled people.
“The narrative has to change,” Mitra said, “so that disabled people have the right to be pregnant, and the right to have children—and the right not to have children.”
Read "Forced Sterilization of Disabled People Isn't a Relic of the Past" and "Pregnancy Is a Minefield When You're Disabled."

Permission, Pleasure, and Power: Consent as the Foundation for Disability and Reproductive Justice: Announcing the Third Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellowship Keynote Event
Reproductive Justice and Disability Justice are deeply connected, and honoring that connection strengthens individuals and communities. Our third Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellow is Laura Millar, an independent consultant and the co-executive director of the Blind Sexuality Access Network. Laura's work is focused on how blind and disabled people are systematically denied access—not just to sexual healthcare or education, but also to autonomy, pleasure, relationships, and even basic conversations that should never have been out of reach in the first place.
Laura will speak in conversation with Rebecca Cokley of the Ford Foundation on "Permission, Pleasure, and Power: Consent as the Foundation for Disability and Reproductive Justice." Keynote event registration information coming soon!

Disability and Health Journal - Special Issue
This special issue of the Disability and Health Journal is the first issue of this journal to focus specifically on community living policy. Edited by Joe Caldwell, Director of the Community Living Policy Center, and Ari Ne'eman, and containing articles by several Lurie Institute researchers, the supplement highlights the importance of careful policymaking and service provision to protect and advance the rights of people with disabilities and illustrates the crucial role research plays in advancing community living policy. The 13 articles in the issue cover a wide range of current issues and populations needing Long-Term Services and Supports, and they span four major themes in community living policy: housing and transportation supports; access to home- and community-based services (HCBS) and unmet needs; system design and delivery; and HCBS outcome measures. Find the full special issue on community living policy here.
Find the "at a glance" (summary version) of the special issue here.

Using the Disability Data Dashboards to Advance Policy and Advocacy
The Lurie Institute’s Disability Data Dashboards offer crucial information in easy-to-understand and accessible ways. The dashboards can serve as helpful, efficient, and time-saving tools for disability policy advocates across the United States. In this webinar, we discussed our two dashboards, the Parents with Disabilities Dashboard and the Community Living Dashboard, live demo-ing how they work, what information they show, and what the metrics mean.
Recording Coming Soon: Using the Disability Data Dashboards to Advance Policy & Advocacy

Our 2024 Annual Report is now available!
The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy is excited to share our annual report from this last year. The report highlights key research findings, our many dissemination products and resources, community outreach efforts, and much more from 2024.
Read our 2024 Annual Report

Disability Research for a New Generation

The Lurie Undergraduate Fellowship offers opportunity to learn policy and create community.
For more than half a century, the Brandeis University community has championed the rights of people with disabilities, part of the school’s commitment to social justice.
READ THE FULL STORY