Increasing Expectations: Participation, Inclusion, and Belonging 33 Years After the Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Disability is a natural part of the human experience. Currently, 1 in 4 U.S. adults experience some form of disability. Individuals with disabilities disproportionally experience more barriers in accessing employment, healthcare, housing, and transportation. For more than 35 years, the Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire has provided research, training/teaching, and outreach on disability policy and service to New Hampshire and beyond. This session will explore some of the innovative and strategic strategies from the IOD and partners to ensure people with disabilities and their families are considered in service and policy design.
The September conversation with Dr. Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Director of the Institute on Disability, moderated by Yusi Turell at Carsey’s Center for Impact Finance, discusses the current opportunities and challenges in supporting the inclusion, belonging, and participation of all people in community life since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kelly Nye-Lengerman is the Director of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. Her work is focused on making public policies and systems work for people through research, training, technical assistance, and advocacy. Her work supports the full inclusion of individuals living with disability in all aspects of community life. Dr. Nye-Lengerman’s portfolio includes research, policy, and service work focused on inclusive employment practices and policy, social security, Medicaid long term services and supports, organizational transformation, person-centered practices, and poverty remediation. Dr. Nye-Lengerman serves on the national board of the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) and is actively involved with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). She has also served on numerous national and state advisory groups focused on home and community-based services (HCBS), vocational rehabilitation, and social security.
Dr. Nye-Lengerman has a broad range of professional experiences working for disability provider organizations in both community and facility-based employment programs, as a social worker, and as a direct support professional. She previously spent 11 years at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. Dr. Nye-Lengerman authored Community Living and Participation for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a number of book chapters, and more than thirty journal articles and technical reports on employment services, vocational rehabilitation, community living, retirement, and other topics. Dr. Nye-Lengerman is passionate and committed to connecting research, training, and direct practice work across disability policy and service topics.
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