The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy

The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School leads research that helps shape policies, programs and practices which improve the lives of people with disabilities across the lifespan.

We partner with people with disabilities, community organizations, policymakers, and clinicians to produce research that addresses the critical issues that people with disabilities and their families face. This research incorporates qualitative and quantitative projects that are informed by the disability community and grounded in disability justice. Our research team includes established academic scholars, postdoctoral fellows, professional research staff, and student research assistants. We prioritize mentorship of the next generation of researchers.

What's Happening at the Lurie Institute

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 will teach attendees about 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.

Register for 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

Current Featured Work

Lurie Institute Scholars Named Finalists for Best Research Paper Award at NARRTC Conference

The paper, Outcomes of Person-Center Planning in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services, is noted as being a crucial resource towards developing rehabilitation research and practice for the benefit of the disability community.

View an accessible brief version of the paper on the Community Living Policy Center’s website.

A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled. Book Talk with Lurie Institute Visiting Scholar Alex Green

In this webinar, Alex Green, who has spent a decade uncovering the hidden story of Walter E. Fernald, discusses Fernald's complex legacy. Watch the recording: https://youtu.be/kYR7o-t71yk

Video: A Summary of the Pregnancy Health Experiences of Black Deaf and Hard of Hearing Women in the U.S.

In the United States, who you are and the resources you have can impact the quality of healthcare you receive. In this study, we talked to eight Black Deaf and Hard of Hearing women to learn about their pregnancy healthcare experience.

Brief: The Quality of Race and Ethnicity Data Among Medicaid Beneficiaries Receiving Long-Term Services and Supports

This brief examines the completeness of race and ethnicity data among adult Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) users, including adults receiving Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) and institutional services, using T-MSIS data.

“People with disabilities, like everybody else, should have the supports to live and to thrive in their communities.”

—Monika Mitra, Director of the Lurie Institute