The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy promotes research and engagement around disablity and health policy in the United States and internationally. On this page, you will find our international research and initiatives summarized and grouped into handy categories.
Click on a category to go directly to that section:
- Global Research and Leadership
- Webinars on Disability in International Contexts
- International Scholars and Visitors
- International Conferences and Talks
- Publications on Disability Internationally
Global Research and Leadership
The Lurie Institute Joins the WHO Disability Health Equity Initiative
In 2025, the Lurie Institute joined the World Health Organization's Disability Health Equity Initiative.
We are thrilled to have been invited to join the Initiative and look forward to working with its global members to advance disability health equity.
Lurie's Director Joins Lancet Commission on Disability and Health as a Commissioner
In 2025, the Lurie Institute’s Director, Dr. Monika Mitra, was named a Commissioner of the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health, the first commission focused specifically on disability and health. The Lancet is the world’s leading public health journal, and the Commission aims to generate action-oriented evidence demonstrating why and how people with disabilities should be included in health systems worldwide.
Learn more about the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health.
Leadership of the Disability and Health Journal
Since 2019, Monika Mitra, Director of the Lurie Institute, has served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Disability and Health Journal (DHJO), the leading international journal in the field of disability and health.
Host of the International Consortium for Research on Parents, Parenting, and Pregnancy with Disabilities
The Lurie Institute hosts the International Consortium for Research on Parents, Parenting, and Pregnancy with Disabilities, a global network of leading researchers studying the outcomes and experiences of prospective parents and parents with disabilities. The International Consortium is supported by the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities, one of Lurie's four federally funded research centers.
The consortium is composed of leading international researchers who study the parenting and pregnancy experiences of people with disabilities; it supports the Parenting Center's research through a cross-cultural exchange of ideas and best practices among researchers. The upcoming presentation among consortium members will focus on Ghana.
Engagement in the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Lurie Institute director Monika Mitra is also a long-standing member of Executive Committee for the Special Interest Group on Parenting for International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Webinars on Disability in International Contexts
"I challenge them a bit": Encounters between Parents with Disabilities and the Medical Institution in Chile
Cultivating Disabled Leadership of an Inclusive and Sustainable Future
International Scholars and Visitors
The Lurie Institute Welcomes Dr. A. H. Monjurul Kabir
Dr. Kabir is an international human rights lawyer, political scientist, and expert on the rule of law, and a Senior United Nations System Coordination Adviser and Global Team Leader for Gender Equality, Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality at UN Women’s headquarters in New York City.
The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy is thrilled to have Dr. A. H. Monjurul Kabir join us as we work together for an inclusive and intersectional development agenda for public good.
Drs. Florencia Herrera and Andrea Rojas Hosted by the Lurie Institute and the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities
Chilean researchers Drs. Florencia Herrera and Andrea Rojas gave a lecture on March 6, 2024 entitled "'I challenge them a bit': Encounters between Parents with Disabilities and the Medical Institution." In their lecture, they explored how barriers, particularly those of an attitudinal nature, are reflected in concrete encounters between parents with disabilities and medical personnel and hamper care for their children or during pregnancy.
The researchers noted how the existing healthcare barriers for parents with disabilities increase when parents with disabilities require medical attention for their children. Parents with disabilities irritate the medical institution because they do not have ‘standard’ bodies and are in the position of the carers of others (their children), rather than that of people who require care. These parents develop strategies to resist the way they are treated, making extra efforts to obtain medical attention for their children.
International Conferences and Talks
Below are some of our most recent international conference presentations and talks on disability.
Browse all our international conference presentations and talks on health and disability
- Cost-benefit analysis of doula care in Medicaid programs (Bali, Indonesia)
- Centering disability in maternal health: Toward inclusive care and justice (Limerick, Ireland)
- Parents with physical disabilities and their parenting experiences: A scoping review of qualitative studies (Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
- Ayushman for All: Health insurance for persons with disabilities (New Delhi, India)
- Reproductive health and disabilities: Bridging gaps, promoting equity (Kolkata, India)
- Bridging gaps: Promoting accessible perinatal care for people with disabilities (Santiago, Chile)
- Violence victimization against people with disabilities: Data informing practice (Santiago, Chile)
- Breaking barriers: Ensuring inclusion in perinatal care for people with physical disabilities (Santiago, Chile)
Publications on Disability in International Contexts
Below are our most recent publications on disability internationally.
Browse all our international disability publications
- Can disabled people be teachers in China?
- Inclusion, exclusion, agency, and advocacy: Experiences of Chinese women with physical disabilities, with worldwide implications
- Review of Hacking the underground: Disability, infrastructure, and London's public transport system by Raquel Velho
- Too little, not enough: Impact of safety nets on food security among households with disabled members in Nigeria
- A participatory action research project with people with disabilities and seniors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Special Double Issue on China and Disability
- Plain-language of all abstracts may be accessed at: https://rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/China-plain-language-abstracts
- Awareness and access to mass media sources of information about modern family planning methods among women with Disabilities in Nigeria: An analysis of 2018 demographic and health survey
All Lurie Institute publications are available using our search tool:
Search all our articles, briefs, and webinars below.