Research and Training Center on Community Living
“We want to help people with disabilities fully participate in the community, reduce their risk for institutionalization in a nursing home, hospital or other health care setting and, whenever possible, successfully transition from an institution to a community setting.”
- Glen W. White, PhD, director of the RTC/CL
Pictured at left: Community members in Lawrence, Kansas, celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC/CL)
develops evidence-based programs, policies
and practices
that further community living among people with disabilities.
Why It Matters
In June 2009 U.S. Health and Human Serv
ices Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the “Year of Community Living” to mark the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision. Olmstead gives Americans with disabilities the right to live in a community setting rather than in an institution.
Since then there has been increasing progress toward the goal of community living for people with disabilities through deinstitutionalization, anti-discrimination policies, community-based service providers and other systems of care. Yet people with disabilities still face many barriers to achieving enhanced participation and continuity in community living.
The Research Projects
The center will conduct six research projects to analyze how barriers to and experiences of community living may differ across socio-demographic and geographic groups. With this information as a foundation, five more projects will test strategies designed to improve community living opportunities for individuals with disabilities, focusing on housing, health, recreation and community and civic involvement. Two systematic scoping reviews will also inform the other projects..
“These projects represent the state-of-art in terms of understanding the factors that put people with disabilities at risk for institutionalization. The research and advisory teams we have assembled will blend research rigor with relevance to reduce barriers that threaten continuity in community living and support programs that enhance quality of life for Americans with disabilities," said Glen W. White, center director.
Funding
The Research and Training Center on Community Living is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), grant number H133B110006, U.S. Department of Education.
