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 nidrr.plan@ed.gov.

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.

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