Chiaki Gonda Kotani, M.S.

Professional Biography

Chiaki Gonda Kotani received her master's degree from KU's department of Applied Behavioral Science and now lives in Japan. She is collaborating with Dr. Glen White on the project “CIL Services Effect on Community Participation” under the Measurement and Interdependence in Community Living (MICL) grant. She also worked on that project as a graduate research assistant at the RTC/IL, and conducted another MICL project for her graduate thesis: Effects of an Information and Skills Training Package on Increasing Community Participation of Consumers with Mobility-Related Disabilities.

She came to study at the University of Kansas from Nagano, Japan, and joined the RTC/IL in 2005 as an undergraduate student research assistant. Her work experience as an undergraduate included assisting with the special research projects “Nobody Left Behind” and “Assessing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Persons with Disabilities.” Since 2006, she has served on the executive board of Ablehawks, a student organization at KU that raises disability awareness on campus. Gonda has also interned at Independence, Inc., a center for independent living, and the GaDuGi SafeCenter, both in Lawrence, Kansas.

Research Interests

Kotani's research interests include enhancing community participation for people with disabilities and the effects of secondary conditions on community participation.

Publications

White, G.W., Gonda, C., Peterson, J., & Drum, C. (in preparation). Secondary conditions and their effects on community participation.

White, G.W., Simpson, J.L., Gonda, C., Coble, Z.S., & Ravesloot, C. (in submission). Independence to interdependence: A conceptual model for better understanding community participation of Centers for Independent Living consumers. Journal of Disability Policy Studies.

Izumi, K., & Gonda, C. (2008, September). Civil protection movement in the U.S.: History and current activities of Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), Normalization, Tokyo, Japan: Japan Association forRehabilitation.

Rooney, C., & Gonda, C. (2007, February 12). Disability rights bus travels across nation.  Epoch Times. Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-2-12/51564.html

Presentations

Gonda, C., White, G. W., Drum, C., & Peterson, J. (2008 May). Secondary conditions and their effects on community participation: A Preliminary review of the literature. Poster presented at the State of the Science Conference, Portland, OR.

Favorite Quote

"I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all." - Justin Dart, Jr.