Winter 2024

The number of people with disabilities who were actively employed or looking for work held steady at the end of October even as the overall employment rates for people with disabilities remained clost to historic highs.

After he became paralyzed after a fall, Pat Maher returned to college, excelled at adaptive sports, and dedicated his career to advocating for people with disabilities and supporting their success in the workforce.

Once she decided against becoming a veterinarian, a visit to the career services department in college inspired Lisa Helma to pursue a career in vocational rehabilitation.

New NIDILRR Grant: Improving Air Travel for

People with Disabilities and Older Adults

Rehabilitation Measures Database Update

The Rehabilitation Measures Database (RMD) now has 582 summarized rehabilitation measures, 41 of which are related to employment.

Three new infographics have been added to the RMD: The 6 Minute Walk Test, the Four Square Step Test and the Pediatric Balance Scale.

Do you use the RMD? Let us know how you use this valuable resource, and what features you'd like to see added (or removed) by taking this quick survey. Your input will help us improve the functionality of the RMD for the 1.5 million annual visitors who use this valuable resource.

The October episode of INside the OUTcomes: A Rehabilitation Research Podcast, featured a vocational rehabilitation success story.

After experiencing a stroke that impacted her memory and ability to keep pace at work, ultimately resulting in her being laid off, Sabrina sought vocational rehabilitation services at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Listen to Sabrina and her Shirley Ryan AbilityLab vocational rehabilitation counselor, Jennifer Barthel, talk about how they worked together to achieve a positive employment outcome.

You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.  

Peer mentors are people with lived experience who provide support and guidance to others who may be new to similar experiences. For example, someone who has had a spinal cord injury for many years might be a peer mentor to someone newly injured.

Researchers from the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment for People with Disabilities presented on employment resources that peer mentors can use to help mentees with employment-related issues.

Watch the recorded Zoom presentation here.

Presenters and their topics:



Linda Ehrlich-Jones, PhD, RN, Associate Director, CROR: 

• Peer mentoring systematic review findings and supporting employment: The peer mentor role
• Employment-related resources

Deborah Crown, CRC. LCPC, Research Manager, CROR

• Reasonable accommodation requests

Angelika Kudla, MS LCMHCA, Senior Project Coordinator, CROR

• Employment-related barriers, facilitators and job accommodations for people with a physical disability: findings from national surveys

The contents of this newsletter were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant 90RTEM0001). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS). The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL or DHSS.