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

Announcing the Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellowship

The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy announces its inaugural Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellowship. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Fellowship is intended for activists, scholars, and community organizers with disabilities whose work draws national attention to systemic ableism in reproductive health policy.

Learn More about the Fellowship

Lurie Institute Researcher's Analysis of Disabled People's Needs for Abortion Access Now Available

Photograph of US Supreme Court next to a quotation by Robyn M. Powell: "[I]t is actual disabled people — not hypothetical fetuses with disability diagnoses — who abortion restrictions will harm." Lurie Institute researcher Robyn Powell's timely analysis will be published in an upcoming issue of UCLA Law Review. It is currently available as work-in-progress.

Read the work-in-progress

Black Maternal Health: Data Shows Unequal Care and Unequal Outcomes for Black Disabled Mothers

Our research reveals that Black disabled women have worse pregnancy care and pregnancy outcomes than their white disabled peers.

View the full infographic

Participants Needed for Research Study of New HCBS Outcome Measures

To improve services for disabled people, CLPC's partners at the Research and Training Center on HCBS Outcome Measurement (RTC/OM) at the Institute on Community Integration are studying how well HCBS services are working for the people who receive them. If you'd like to participate or know someone who would, review the study description and eligibility criteria.

Current Featured Work

Webinar: Disabled Parents in the NICU

On June 7, 2022 at noon, the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities presented a webinar featuring two disabled parent panelists whose babies were born prematurely and admitted to the NICU. Access the webinar recording.

Lurie Institute for Disability Policy Undergraduate Research Fellows' Presentations - May 5, 2022

2021–2022 Lurie Institute Undergraduate Fellows' Research Presentations

The Lurie Institute is excited to announce that on May 5, 2022, our 2021–2022 undergraduate fellows completed their fellowships with compelling research presentations. The video of the presentations is now available.

New Policy Brief: Parent-Centered Planning for Parents with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

Researchers present a model focused on parents that can be used by formal services systems, which often don’t acknowledge that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are increasingly becoming parents.

Annual Report for 2021 Now Available

The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy is happy to announce the release of its annual report for 2021. The report describes details of our research, education, and community work at the Lurie Institute and its centers.

Our Areas of Study

Healthcare Equity

People with disabilities across the United States face significant disparities in finding and receiving healthcare. Our work uncovers these disparities through rigorous analysis and identifies promising policy solutions that governments, hospitals, insurance providers, clinics, and providers can use to ensure that people with disabilities receive equitable care.

Parents with Disabilities

Parents with disabilities have experiences and support needs that are often different from those of parents without disabilities. Our research identifies these experiences and needs to shape policies and programs that help parents with disabilities raise their children, receive culturally competent healthcare, and advocate for themselves when working with child welfare agencies or family courts.

Young people, including girl with prosthetic leg, sitting on a bench

Community Living Policy

The Lurie Institute conducts and supports research into policies that integrate people with disabilities into the wider community. People with disabilities have the right to live, work, and play in the community, and we are proud to help support those rights through our work.

“People with disabilities, like everybody else, should have the supports to live and to thrive in their communities.” - Monika Mitra, Director, Lurie Institute