The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

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

#TeachDisabilityHistory Campaign Event

#TeachDisabilityHistory. Finish off Disability History Month by learning from disabled youth who are working to promote teaching disability history in schools and beyond. October 31, 2024. Heller School, Zinner Forum & via Zoom. 2:00pm EST. Reception to follow. Easterseals Massachusetts logo. Lurie Institute logo.#HellerAt65 Celebrating 65 years of Knowledge Advancing Social Justice. Picture collage of Judy Heumann, Fannie Lou Hamer, Carrie Ann Lucas, Alice Wong, and Julian Gavino.

Easterseals Massachusetts is a nonprofit that works with people with disabilities to provide equal opportunities to live, learn, work, and play. Within the youth department, they are currently working on a campaign to #TeachDisabilityHistory. During this workshop, you will hear from the young adults working on this campaign. They will share some of the work they have done to promote teaching disability history in schools, and everyone will play a game to test their knowledge of disability history. Committee members will also share insights from an earlier facilitated conversation on community building and Massachusetts disability history.

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Advancing Health Equity through Disability Inclusion: A conversation with Rich Besser, Rebecca Cokley, and Teresa Nguyen

Advancing Health Equity through Disability Inclusion. A conversation with Rich Besser, Rebecca Cokley, and Teresa Nguyen. October 30, 2024. 5:30pm at Zinner Forum, Heller School for Social Policy and via Zoom. Reception to follow. Registration required for in person and Zoom attendance. We will be providing ASL interpreters and captions. Please indicate other accommodations requests on the registration form. Lurie Institute logo. Celebrating Heller at 65 logo.

Join us for a conversation with Rich Besser (President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), Rebecca Cokley (Disability Rights Program Officer at the Ford Foundation), and Teresa Nguyen (Director of the Community Living Equity Center) focused on the importance of centering disability in the creation of equitable health policies. Rich, Rebecca, and Teresa will discuss the journey that the RWJF and the Ford Foundation have taken towards more equitable grant making, lessons learned, and a way forward.

Conversation at 5:30pm with reception to follow.

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We will provide ASL interpreters and CART. Please indicate other accommodation requests in the registration form.

Announcing two major research projects funded by NIH and NIDILRR

Newly Funded Research. Graphic of a stethoscope. A Continuing Education Intervention to Address Ableism Among Obstetric Clinicians Providing Perinatal Care. Graphic of a pregnant woman in a wheelchair. The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy awarded funding to support the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research

The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy is proud to announce two newly funded research projects to improve pregnancy experiences and outcomes for disabled pregnant people.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROJECTS

 

Disability Research for a New Generation

Photo of Monika Mitra, Shoshana Finkel, Alanna Levy, Norma Stobbe, Monica Chen, Rachel Steinberg. Front row: Shira Levie, Judy Heumann, Max Tang. Text on picture reads "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.

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Current Featured Work

Living with Anxiety as a Disabled Parent

Webinar: Living with Anxiety as a Disabled Parent

The Center for Parents webinar will discuss the anxiety of new parenthood from the viewpoint of two disabled mothers. Both generalized anxiety disorder among disabled parents and day-to-day anxieties of parenting with a disability when parents often experience stigma and ableism at both a structural and personal level will be discussed. Register here.

Beyond the Minimum: How Social Housing Can Fully Include Disabled People

Issue Brief: Beyond the Minimum: How Social Housing Can Fully Include Disabled People
This Community Living Policy Center issue brief explores the burgeoning movement for social housing in the United States and the untapped opportunities it presents to increase permanent, affordable, accessible housing for disabled renters.
Olmstead 25th Anniversary Panel: The Progress and Promise of the Olmstead Decision

Webinar: The Progress and Promise of the Olmstead Decision

For the 25th anniversary of the Olmstead decision, join the Community Living Policy Center for a timely and important panel event on key milestones of Olmstead advocacy and future directions for community living policy. Access the recording.

Housing Circumstances of Parents with Disabilities within the Child Welfare System

New Brief: Housing Circumstances of Parents with Disabilities within the Child Welfare System

This study from the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities examines the housing circumstances of parents with disabilities in the child welfare system, with particular attention to race/ethnicity and disability.

“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