----- Original Message -----
From: "Barrett, Don" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 3:18 PM
Subject: [UACCESS-L] Steering Committee Formed to Explore New Directions for
Disabilit y and Rehabilitation Research


U.S. Department of Education
Office of Public Affairs, News Branch
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

FOR RELEASE
June 12, 2003
Contact: Jim Bradshaw
(202) 401-1576


STEERING COMMITTEE FORMED TO EXPLORE NEW DIRECTIONS FOR DISABILITY AND
REHABILITATION RESEARCH

The U.S. Education Department today announced the appointment of a
steering committee to assist the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in developing a plan for disability and
rehabilitation research for the next five years.

"This plan will help provide a roadmap for the implementation of the
administration's major platform for disability -- the New Freedom Initiative
(NFI) -- which seeks to empower people with disabilities through increased
access to assistive technology, expanded educational opportunities, and
fuller integration into the community through home ownership, employment and
accessible transportation," said Steven James Tingus, the institute's
director.

NIDRR, a component of the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services at the Education Department, is the major federal
agency sponsoring disability research and serves as a bridge between the
disability advocacy and research communities.

The steering committee includes members from the community of
researchers, service providers, individuals with disabilities and private
industry.

The plan will emphasize disability demographics research, technology
for access and function, employment and health and basic functioning to help
people with disabilities live the independent, productive lives they desire.
Additional emphasis will be given to the creative applications of technology
and improving access to health care, thereby empowering individuals to live
independently in the community.

The public is invited to submit recommendations about the NIDRR
long-range plan to [log in to unmask]

The panel includes:

-- Elena Andresen, associate professor, Saint Louis University
School of
Public Health;

-- Bobbie J. Atkins, professor, San Diego State University;

-- Henry B. Betts, Paul B. Magnuson Professor, Northwestern
University
Medical School;

-- Frank G. Bowe, professor, Hofstra University;

-- Judi Chamberlin, senior consultant on survivor perspectives,
Boston
University;

-- Dudley Stephen Childress, professor, Northwestern University;

-- Patrick E. Crago, Allen H. and Constance T. Ford Professor, Case
Western
Reserve University;

-- Eric Dishman, manager, Consumer Concepts, People & Practices
Research,
Intel Corporation;

-- Pamela W. Duncan, professor, University of Florida;

-- Glenn T. Fujiura, associate professor, University of Illinois at
Chicago;

-- Allen C. Harris; director, Iowa Department for the Blind;

-- David Mank, professor, Indiana University;

-- Kathleen Martinez, vice president, World Institute on Disability;

-- John L. Melvin, Michie Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine,
Jefferson
Medical College;

-- Erica Nash, executive director, Help-Your-Self;

-- Margaret Stineman, associate professor, University of
Pennsylvania; and

-- Carl Suter, executive director, Council of State Administrators
of
Vocational Rehabilitation.
###