Tag Archives: disability

Resources to Promote Independence and Equity for People with Disabilities

Businesswoman in wheelchair leading group discussion in creative office

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. To recognize this landmark event, here’s a list of our recent titles that provide guidelines to promote equal opportunity for people with disabilities. As always, all are free to read online or download.

Technical Feasibility of a Wheelchair Securement Concept for Airline Travel: A Preliminary Assessment

Technical Feasibility of a Wheelchair Securement Concept for Airline Travel: A Preliminary Assessment

There appear to be, in this preliminary assessment, no formidable issues that present design and engineering challenges for installing in-cabin wheelchair securement systems in airplanes. While equipping enough airplanes with securement systems to provide meaningful levels of airline service …[more]

Opportunities for Improving Programs and Services for Children with Disabilities

Opportunities for Improving Programs and Services for Children with Disabilities

Although the general public in the United States assumes children to be generally healthy and thriving, a substantial and growing number of children have at least one chronic health condition. Many of these conditions are associated with disabilities and interfere regularly with children’s …[more]

Transit Agency Relationships and Initiatives to Improve Bus Stops and Pedestrian Access

Transit Agency Relationships and Initiatives to Improve Bus Stops and Pedestrian Access

In the United States, many transit stops are not adequate: bus stops that are just a signpost on a busy road, bus stops with broken sidewalks and/or pathway obstructions, bus stops with a lack of seating, and bus stops clearly not accessible to people with disabilities. For many bus riders, the …[more]

Innovative Solutions to Facilitate Accessibility for Airport Travelers with Disabilities

Innovative Solutions to Facilitate Accessibility for Airport Travelers with Disabilities

The airport industry has adopted specific design codes in response to state and federal regulatory requirements—including the Americans with Disabilities Act—to accommodate employees and travelers with disabilities. These design codes include general architectural guidelines and technology …[more]

Artificial Intelligence Applications for Older Adults and People with Disabilities: Balancing Safety and Autonomy: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Artificial Intelligence Applications for Older Adults and People with Disabilities: Balancing Safety and Autonomy: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

On October 24, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop titled Artificial Intel¬ligence Applications for Older Adults and People with Disabilities: Balancing Safety and Autonomy. This workshop examined the state of the art and knowledge about …[more]

Functional Assessment for Adults with Disabilities

Functional Assessment for Adults with Disabilities

The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. To receive SSDI or SSI disability benefits, an individual must meet the statutory definition of disability, which is …[more]

Developing Affordable and Accessible Community-Based Housing for Vulnerable Adults: Proceedings of a Workshop

Developing Affordable and Accessible Community-Based Housing for Vulnerable Adults: Proceedings of a Workshop

Accessible and affordable housing can enable community living, maximize independence, and promote health for vulnerable populations. However, the United States faces a shortage of affordable and accessible housing for low-income older adults and individuals living with disabilities. This …[more]

People Living with Disabilities: Health Equity, Health Disparities, and Health Literacy: Proceedings of a Workshop

People Living with Disabilities: Health Equity, Health Disparities, and Health Literacy: Proceedings of a Workshop

Poor health literacy has many negative consequences for achieving the quadruple aim of better care, improving the health of the community and the population, providing affordable care, and improving the work life of health care providers, and those consequences disproportionately affect those …[more]

Strengthening the Workforce to Support Community Living and Participation for Older Adults and Individuals with Disabilities: Proceedings of a Workshop

Strengthening the Workforce to Support Community Living and Participation for Older Adults and Individuals with Disabilities: Proceedings of a Workshop

As the demographics of the United States shift toward a population that is made up of an increasing percentage of older adults and people with disabilities, the workforce that supports and enables these individuals is also shifting to meet the demands of this population. For many older adults …[more]

Ensuring Quality and Accessible Care for Children with Disabilities and Complex Health and Educational Needs: Proceedings of a Workshop

Ensuring Quality and Accessible Care for Children with Disabilities and Complex Health and Educational Needs: Proceedings of a Workshop

Children with disabilities and complex medical and educational needs present a special challenge for policy makers and practitioners. These children exhibit tremendous heterogeneity in their conditions and needs, requiring a varied array of services to meet those needs. Uneven public and …[more]

Strategy Guide to Enable and Promote the Use of Fixed-Route Transit by People with Disabilities

Strategy Guide to Enable and Promote the Use of Fixed-Route Transit by People with Disabilities

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 163: Strategy Guide to Enable and Promote the Use of Fixed-Route Transit by People with Disabilities is designed to help transit agencies fulfill the primary goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by making mainstream …[more]

Policy and Research Needs to Maximize Independence and Support Community Living: Workshop Summary

Policy and Research Needs to Maximize Independence and Support Community Living: Workshop Summary

Living independently and participating in one’s community are priorities for many people. In many regions across the United States, there are programs that support and enable people with disabilities and older adults to live where they choose and with whom they choose and to participate fully …[more]

Mental Disorders and Disabilities Among Low-Income Children

Mental Disorders and Disabilities Among Low-Income Children

Children living in poverty are more likely to have mental health problems, and their conditions are more likely to be severe. Of the approximately 1.3 million children who were recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits in 2013, about 50% were disabled primarily due to …[more]

Understanding Life Expectancy in the U.S.: Analysis Behind the Numbers

Over the past 25 years, life expectancy has been rising in the United States at a slower pace than has been achieved in many other high-income countries. Consequently, the United States has been falling steadily in the world rankings for level of life expectancy, and the gap between the United States and countries with the highest achieved life expectancies has been widening, especially for women.

The National Resource Council has recently released a report on this subject, Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries. We asked Barney Cohen, Director of the Committee on Population, for his comments:

“The relatively poor performance of the United States over the past 25 years is surprising given the country spends far more on health care than any other nation in the world, both absolutely and as a percentage of gross national product. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council’s Committee on Population to examine evidence on possible causes. The panel concluded that a history of heavy smoking and elevated levels of obesity are two factors that are playing a substantial role in the relatively poor performance of the United States. The report should be of interest to both health researchers and policymakers.”

Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies some of the main factors that have been driving differences in life expectancy among wealthy countries and discusses research gaps. This book points out that factors that contribute to lower life expectancy are more common among people of lower social status and those who are less likely to have lifetime access to health care.

A related book, International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources, is a collection of papers written by experts in the field to provide an assessment of the plausibility of the most obvious possible explanations that have been advanced to explain the poor position of the United States in terms of life expectancy above age 50. The authors, all of whom are at the forefront of work in their fields, provide state-of-the-art assessments of the research and identify gaps in measurement, data, theory, and research design.

These books and others from the Committee on Population can inform debate and guide decision-making.

Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries
Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries

Over the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the U.S. has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the U.S. spends more on health care…
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International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages
International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources

In 1950 men and women in the United States had a combined life expectancy of 68.9 years, the 12th highest life expectancy at birth in the world. Today, life expectancy is up to 79.2 years, yet the country is now 28th on the list, behind the United Kingdom,…
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Assessing the Impact of Severe Economic Recession on the Elderly
Assessing the Impact of Severe Economic Recession on the Elderly: Summary of a Workshop

The economic crisis that began in 2008 has had a significant impact on the well-being of certain segments of the population and its disruptive effects can be expected to last well into the future. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), which is concerned with…
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Conducting Biosocial Surveys
Conducting Biosocial Surveys: Collecting, Storing, Accessing, and Protecting Biospecimens and Biodata

Recent years have seen a growing tendency for social scientists to collect biological specimens such as blood, urine, and saliva as part of large-scale household surveys. By combining biological and social data, scientists are opening up new fields of inquiry…
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Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys
Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys: Beyond ADLs and IADLs: Summary of a Workshop

Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys summarizes a workshop organized to draw upon recent advances to improve the measurement of physical and cognitive disability in population surveys of the elderly population. The…
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Biosocial Surveys
Biosocial Surveys

Biosocial Surveys analyzes the latest research on the increasing number of multipurpose household surveys that collect biological data along with the more familiar interviewerrespondent information. This book serves as a follow-up to the 2003 volume,…
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Tools and Methods for Estimating Populations at Risk from Natural Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Crises
Tools and Methods for Estimating Populations at Risk from Natural Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Crises

Worldwide, millions of people are displaced annually because of natural or industrial disasters or social upheaval. Reliable data on the numbers, characteristics, and locations of these populations can bolster humanitarian relief efforts and recovery programs. …
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New Books This Week on NAP

Friday brings us once again to the end of the work week and a roundup of the books that were new to nap.edu this week. Almost all of our books can be read online for free, and many have free PDFs to download, so check under each book’s title in this post for links to read online or if a free PDF is available.

Assessing and Improving Value in Cancer Care: Workshop Summary (final)

Unlike many other areas in health care, the practice of oncology presents unique challenges that make assessing and improving value especially complex. First, patients and professionals feel a well-justified sense of urgency to treat for cure, and if cure is not possible, to extend life and reduce the burden of disease. Second, treatments are often both life sparing and highly toxic. Third, distinctive payment structures for cancer medicines are intertwined with practice. Fourth, providers often face tremendous pressure to apply the newest technologies to patients who fail to respond to established treatments, even when the evidence supporting those technologies is incomplete or uncertain, and providers may be reluctant to stop toxic treatments and move to palliation, even at the end of life. Finally, the newest and most novel treatments in oncology are among the most costly in medicine.

This volume summarizes the results of a workshop that addressed these issues from multiple perspectives, including those of patients and patient advocates, providers, insurers, health care researchers, federal agencies, and industry. Its broad goal was to describe value in oncology in a complete and nuanced way, to better inform decisions regarding developing, evaluating, prescribing, and paying for cancer therapeutics.

Interacademy Programs Between the United States and Eastern Europe 1967-2009: The Changing Landscape (final)

Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys: Beyond ADLs and IADLs: Summary of a Workshop (final)

Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public: A Summary of the February 2009 Summit (final)

Spectrum Management for Science in the 21st Century (prepublication)

Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation (final)