Disability Employment Policy Rehabilitation Research and Training Center Newsletter
Issue 2 | Website: bbi-dep-rrtc.org
Contents
- Welcome from Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Blanck
- Research Focus: Examining the Relationship Between Infrastructure and Employment Outcomes
- Let's Get to Work Podcast Series
- Disability Employment Policy Research
- DEP RRTC Factsheets
- DEP RRTC Webinars and Trainings
- From the Field: Disability Employment Policy News and Resources
- Southeast ADA Center Spotlight
- Upcoming Events
Dear Colleague:
Welcome to the second newsletter of the Disability Employment Policy Rehabilitation Research Training Center (DEP RRTC). The DEP RRTC is led by the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University (BBI) and funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
Disability employment policy is at an inflection point. Gains in employment by people with disabilities highlight how evolving demands for qualified employees, enhanced workplace flexibility, and targeted public policy can expand access to work and the benefits it brings to individuals, families, and the broader economy. At the same time, workers with disabilities have both opportunities and challenges as new technologies emerge with changes in job types, functions, and advancement opportunities. There is a need to continue to identify and understand the factors that contribute to meaningful, sustainable employment outcomes benefiting employees and their employers.
The DEP RRTC is undertaking research to examine emerging opportunities and challenges during the employment cycle for people with disabilities, from job preparation to hiring, retention, and career advancement. This work is meant to produce evidence-based insights and to highlight existing and new policy and practice in support of disability employment.
- Visit our website and social media to connect and contribute to our research and work.
- Subscribe to this quarterly FREE Newsletter and invite others to subscribe and stay updated on our research, news from the field, and upcoming trainings related to advancing employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities.
Focus on DEP RRTC Research: Examining the Relationship Between Infrastructure and Employment Outcomes
Infrastructure investments are often evaluated on how they impact economic growth. However, there is limited evidence examining how these investments affect employment outcomes for people with disabilities. This DEP project, led by Dr. Purvi Sevak of Mathematica, is designed to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing how access to high-speed internet and reliable public transportation influences employment opportunities, participation, and outcomes for people with disabilities and, by extension, the workforce as a whole.
To produce rigorous information that informs workplace policy and practice, we collect and review quantitative and qualitative data from the nationally representative American Community Survey at the ZIP Code-level to examine how broadband and transportation availability and accessibility are associated with employment of people with disabilities. In addition, we conduct interviews with people with disabilities, with focus on those who are employed as well as job seekers. For policymakers, our findings may help inform decisions about future investment in broadband and transportation and their relation to employment. In the DEP RRTC Let's Get to Work podcast series, Dr. Sevak discusses how this research may enhance disability employment policy and advance employment for people with disabilities.
Let's Get to Work Podcast Series
Peter Blanck, Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, hosts the DEP RRTC's Let's Get to Work podcast series. Let’s Get to Work features leading experts who share their knowledge and insights on disability employment policy. Recent podcast guests include:
Beth Sirull, President and CEO of the National Organization on Disability (NOD).Peter and Beth discuss the future of disability employment policy and why employing people with disabilities “is good for business.” Beth emphasizes that employing people with disabilities results in measurable benefits to businesses, including lower turnover and stronger employee engagement.
Jonathan Martinis, Director of Knowledge Translation for the DEP RRTC, and Barry Whaley, Director of the Southeast ADA Center. Peter, Jonathan, and Barry discuss how knowledge translation informs disability employment policy and practice.
Please join us for these and other podcasts, including interviews with Dr. Purvi Sevak of Mathematica and Marco Damiani of AHRC New York City.
Disability Employment Policy Research
DEP RRTC team members and external researchers regularly conduct research and publish articles addressing and advancing disability employment policy and workplace best practices. Illustrative recent works appear below:
Ameri, M., Kurtzberg, T., Schur, L., Adya, M., Colella, A., & Kruse, D. (2025). Intersecting biases: Does veteran status overcome disability and gender disadvantages in the employment landscape? ILR Review, 78(4), 614–644. https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939251318286
Hyseni, F., Martinis, J. G., Wise, F. A., Goodman, N. J., Saks, E. R., & Blanck, P. (2026). “I want to be interdependent”: An exploratory study on the use of supported decision-making for people with serious mental illness. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2025.10189
Ne’eman, A. (2026). Disability diagnoses identified by the American Community Survey 6-question sequence. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. e256302-e256302). American Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.6302
van der Meulen Rodgers, Y., Schur, L., Hammond, F. M., Edwards, R., Cohen, J., & Kruse, D. (2025). Work from home and job satisfaction: Differences by disability status among healthcare workers. Disability and Health Journal, 101931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2025.101931
DEP RRTC Factsheets
DEP RRTC factsheets regularly examine developments, resources, and trainings on disability employment policy, including:
DEP RRTC Webinars and Trainings
The DEP RRTC website highlights trainings and presentations to increase awareness of disability employment policy, including research by Dr. Mason Ameri of Rutgers University on what happens when employees are encouraged to “bring their whole selves” to work but part of that self includes a disability.
From the Field: Disability Employment Policy News and Updates
Recent resources include:
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) describes how AI is increasingly being integrated into workplace systems and its potential to support employees with disabilities and improve access, communication, and performance at all stages and areas of employment.
The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Among Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities features researchers, educators, and young adults discussing the policies, practices, strategies, and data shaping the future of work for youth with disabilities.
The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision's Assistive Technology in the Workplace Study finds most individuals report inaccessible or hard-to-use technology at work. This publication summarizes strategies used by workers who are blind or have low vision to address these barriers.
The Virginia Department of Human Resource Management reports the number of state employees with disabilities increased significantly between fiscal years 2017 and 2025. This increase is attributed to a coordinated, cross-system approach involving changes to Virginia’s law, policy, and practice. Virginia’s efforts provide an example of how state-level policy and practice may be coordinated and implemented to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Southeast ADA Center Spotlight
The Southeast ADA Center, a sister organization of the DEP RRTC at the Burton Blatt Institute, provides information, training, and guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As part of the ADA National Network, the Center offers a wide range of educational and training resources on the ADA, including publications, webinars, and technical assistance on employment issues.
Research by the Southeast ADA Center was featured at the 2026 ADA State of the Science Research Conference, where DEP RRTC Director and co-Principal Investigator, Fitore Hyseni, Ph.D., presented “Disability Employment Policy, Digital Access, and Economic Opportunity” and at NARRTC 2026: Honoring our Past, Celebrating our Present, Charting our Future, where Erblin Shehu, Ph.D., participated in a panel discussing “Access to and Use of Flexible Work and Accommodations: Employer and Employee Perspectives.”
SEADA staff are presenting at upcoming national conferences, including:
The Virtual ADA Symposium hosted by The Great Plains ADA Center
The ADA requires that people with disabilities be able to receive and communicate information as effectively as people without disabilities. Cheri Hofmann and Barry Whaley will review the use of auxiliary aids and services such as communication devices, specific software, or service providers such as readers, sign language interpreters and other forms of communication to achieve effective communication.
The National ADA Symposium hosted by The Great Plains ADA Center
During this presentation, Jana Burke and Pam Williamson will use their own stories to discuss how to disclose a disability, the pros and cons of disclosing a disability, how to request reasonable accommodations on the job, and steps we can take to create an inclusive work culture.
ADA Live!
The Southeast ADA Center program ADA Live! is a free monthly online broadcast where listeners will learn about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA and leaders share their successful strategies to increase employment participation by people with disabilities. ADA Live’s April 2026 episode features a conversation with Erin Sigmund of The American Printing House for the Blind’s Monarch RISE project and others who discuss how Monarch RISE empowers blind and low-vision project participants who read Braille to achieve and sustain competitive integrated employment. Access ADA Live! Episodes here.
Fourth Thursday ADA Talks
The Southeast ADA Center, in collaboaration with the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute, hosts a monthly webinar on the ADA and related issues. The March 2026 webinar provides an overview of the ADA’s employment provisions with a focus on the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Fair Chance Hiring project for individuals in recovery from Substance Use Disorder. Speakers shared strategies to help employers provide reasonable accommodations and hiring for people with disabilities. Register for Fourth Thursday ADA Talks
Upcoming Events
APSE National Conference: June 8–11, 2026, Dallas, Texas
Register for the APSE National Conference This conference, hosted by DEP RRTC partner APSE, will highlight policies, practices, and strategies that enable people with disabilities to enter and succeed in competitive integrated employment.
National ADA Symposium: July 19–22, 2026, Phoenix, AZ
Register for the National ADA Symposium This in-person conference, hosted by the Great Plains ADA Center, will present sessions on accessible workplace environments, reasonable accommodations, and AI hiring as well as emerging issues affecting people with disabilities in the workplace and community.
Disability:IN Global Conference & Expo: July 27–30, 2026, Dallas, TX
Register for the Disability:IN Global Conference & Expo This conference will bring together employers, researchers, and policymakers to discuss workplace practices and strategies that support employment for people with disabilities.
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