In the more than fifteen years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there have been important advances in community access for people with disabilities, especially in the areas of physical accessibility and assistive technology. BPA has been a leader in the field of disability policy research for the past 30 years, studying independent living, the public vocational rehabilitation system, the integration of people with disabilities into the community, access to the mainstream workforce development system and other mainstream social services, violence and abuse toward people with disabilities, and other important policy issues. Our work has included systemwide studies affecting the broad population of individuals with various kinds of disabilities, as well as research on strategies relevant to specific groups, such as individuals with developmental disabilities, chronic health conditions, traumatic brain injury, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and visual and hearing impairments. In recent years, it has been a matter of particular importance to policymakers that the employment of disabled Americans has shown only limited improvement since the ADA was passed, and BPA has, in that time, further developed its long-time interest and expertise in research on how to strengthen employment and training programs for people with disabilities and how to improve access to such programs.

Access to health care and improvement of health care services have become especially important issues due to changes in today's health care industry--such as managed care, and shortages of nurses--that are decreasing the availability of good, affordable health care for everyone. BPA has acquired a solid reputation for our research on assessing the special health care needs of women, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities, and for our many research efforts to identify innovative, effective ways to improve access to health care.

Related Projects:
California State Medicaid Plan Review and Report
BPA partnered with Managed Care Consulting, Inc. to 1) conduct a review of California's State Medi-Cal Plan in order to assess whether the Plan adequately and appropriately meets the medical and healthcare needs of people with disabilities, and 2) make recommendations to the responsible state agencies regarding Medi-Cal services that support the ability of people with disabilities to live independently in the community.

Developing and Implementing a Plan for Enhancing Performance Management
BPA, under subcontract to ORC Macro, is assisting the Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to develop and implement a Plan for Enhancing Performance Management (PEPM).

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Implementation Study
Assessment of ADA implementation efforts to identify gaps and best practices across all Titles of the ADA, including convening stakeholder dialogues and developing a prototype state-of-the-art public information campaign to improve implementation of the law.

Supporting the OSEP/RTP Part D National Programs Performance Measures
BPA, in partnership with ORC Macro, is assisting the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to develop performance indicators and measures and to conduct performance evaluations for the activities being carried out by the Division of Research to Practice (RTP).

Independent Evaluation of the California Traumatic Brain Injury Project
Independent evaluation of the post-acute continuum-of-care models being developed through the California Traumatic Brain Injury Project to assess the efficacy of individual sites, as well as the project as a whole, in creating opportunities for individuals with TBI to live in the community and achieve their maximum potential.

Technical Assistance Guide on Health Care Sector Initiatives
Development of a guide for practitioners and policymakers to help them create sector initiatives: long-term, intensive economic development and workforce programs focused on the health care industry and built through local partnerships.

Evaluation of Project Independence
Evaluation of a volunteer-based long-term care program in Marin County, California program linking patients with community support services as they are leaving the hospital.

Consultation on Design of Study of Financial Exploitation of Elders
Facilitation of consensus-building process for federal agencies, design of a nationwide study of elder abuse, and development of a bibliography, a scope of work, and criteria for selection of a contractor for this study.

Evaluation of the California Long-Term Care Innovation Grants
Evaluation of disability-related grants in a program to help adults with functional impairments avoid nursing home placement and continue to live independently at home.

Into Focus: Identifying the Unmet Healthcare Needs of Californians with Chronic Neurological Conditions
Research effort to document the healthcare needs of Californians with neurological conditions and to propose strategies to address the identified needs.

Topic Paper for Washington State Institute for Public Policy: Summary and Analysis of Focus Group Findings
Summary of focus group findings for use in analyzing the costs of implementing a Medicaid Buy-In Option for Washington residents with disabilities.

Good Death Institute: Death, Dying, and Caregiving in San Francisco: Are We Ready?
Research on quality of life issues for individuals at the end of life and for their families and caregivers.

Evaluation of the DOL Disability Employment Grants
Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) grants to provide employment and training services to persons with severe disabilities and to dislocated workers with disabilities.

California AmeriCorps ADA and Disability Awareness Training and Technical Assistance Project
Provision of training and support services to assist California AmeriCorps in implementing their ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance plan, recruiting members with disabilities, and increasing disability awareness.

Evaluation of the Los Angeles County Health Care Worker Retraining Demonstration
Evaluation of the implementation of a US Department of Labor-funded planning grant to address workforce need associated with rapid changes in the health care industry.

Research on Employment Supports for People with Disabilities
Focus groups with successfully employed individuals with a range of disabilities, to gather information about work incentives and supports that assisted them in finding and maintaining employment.

The Women's Personal Assistance Services Abuse Research Project
Survey of women with disabilities to define harmful or abusive behaviors and identify strategies for preventing or managing abuse from others, including personal assistance service providers.

Increasing Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities
Survey, analysis of secondary data, and other research for an education and advocacy program aimed at increasing access to breast health screening for women with physical disabilities.

National Survey of Personal Assistance Programs
Design of a national survey of programs providing personal assistance services (PAS) for people with disabilities.

Quality of Life Evaluation of Persons with Developmental Disabilities Moving from Developmental Centers into the Community
Study of the effects on consumers of the State of California's mandated reduction of the number of persons with developmental disabilities in state institutions.

Practitioners' Guide to Primary Care for Women with Physical Disabilities
Development of a guide to providing quality primary care for women with disabilities, aimed at physicians, therapists, nurses, and other health care professionals.

Consumer Input Survey, Adaptive Telephone Equipment
Design and implementation of a survey to assess consumer satisfaction with the structure and operation of California's adaptive telephone equipment distribution program.

Evaluation of the Health Care Workers Retraining Demonstration
Evaluation of the effectiveness of retraining projects in addressing the needs of participants and employers and in allowing hospitals to adapt successfully to rapid change and uncertainty in their local health care systems.

Evaluation of the Living Out Loud Club: Building Resiliency in Disabled Female Adolescents
Evaluation of program offering drug and alcohol prevention services to female adolescents with disabilities in Alameda County, California.

Rehabilitation of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFWs)
Needs assessment of the rehabilitation service needs of MSFWs with disabilities and their families, identification of barriers to service access for this population, and development of outreach and training materials for MSFWs and service providers.

A Health Care Plan Decision Support System for People with Disabilities
Feasibility study of an interactive decision support system on CD-ROM to help people with physical disabilities choose among alternative health care plans.

Meeting the Needs of Women with Disabilities: A Blueprint for Change
Participatory Action Research, including a Delphi Panel, to increase access for women with disabilities to services that meet their needs.

Families of Adults with Disabilities
Needs assessment, national survey, and cost of living determination for families of adults with different kinds of disabilities.

Longitudinal Outcome Study of Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors
Benefit-cost analysis and longitudinal outcome study of the effectiveness of a work re-entry program to assist individuals with traumatic brain injury in returning to work.

Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC)
Development and operation of the regional center to provide education and technical assistance to the business community, the public sector, and the disability community about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Case Management in the Vocational Rehabilitation of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities
Comparative evaluation of case management approaches used with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness seeking employment.

Service Needs of the Developmentally Disabled Population in California
Analysis of the scope of systemwide services to assist persons with developmental disabilities, and statewide consumer satisfaction survey.

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Title VII, Part B Centers for Independent Living Program
Development of performance standards for Centers for Independent Living, and national evaluation of federally-funded centers including surveys of independent living consumers and programs nationwide.

A Study of Accommodations Provided to Handicapped Employees by Federal Contractors
National survey and case studies of best practices on the prevalence, types, and costs of accommodations provided to employees with disabilities by firms with federal contracts.