NIDILRR-Funded Projects and the Spanish-Speaking Disability Community

At NARIC, we provide information and referral services to people with disabilities, their families, service providers, and researchers who speak Spanish. We’re not the only ones! Meet our colleagues in the NIDILRR community who also provide information and resources to the Spanish-speaking disability community:

• Parents Empowering Parents: National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities and their Families addresses the knowledge gaps regarding parents with disabilities and their families. Researchers are developing, adapting, testing, and scaling-up interventions that include a parent peer specialist model for parents with psychiatric disabilities, a virtual peer support intervention for Deaf parents, and a targeted and informed legal services model for parents with diverse disabilities. Resources, tools, and training and intervention materials are made available through the accessible online Parents Empowering Parents Portal and its sister site, Padres Apoderando a Padres.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act National Network Knowledge Translation Center (ADAKTC) facilitates the coordination, organization, and collaboration among the ADA National Network (ADANN) centers and generates new knowledge about optimal methods to enhance stakeholders’ use of knowledge about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA. To achieve this, the ADAKTC is optimizing the efficiency and impact of the ADANN’s outreach, training, technical assistance, information dissemination, and capacity building activities. What does this mean for Spanish-speakers with disabilities, their families, and service providers? The ADAKTC provides factsheets and comprehensive publications in Spanish that assist stakeholders who speak Spanish learn about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA.
• The Mid-Atlantic ADA Regional Center identifies and disseminates the effective practices of individuals and entities which promote improved integration of people with disabilities, including Spanish speakers with disabilities, into all areas of community life. This Center focuses on educating people with disabilities about their rights, capacity building and outreach through local networks, and research in areas where barriers still occur for people with disabilities. This Center provides various publications in Spanish, including two pockets cards: Access to Restaurants and Access to Hotels; quick tips on sign language interpreters; tax incentives, and customer service for front life staff; and general information. Spanish speakers with disabilities from the Mid-Atlantic region of the US can call this Center at 301/217-0124 or email adainfo@transcen.org for assistance.
• The Southeast ADA Regional Center promotes voluntary compliance, effective implementation, and transcendence of the ADA; increases understanding and awareness of the ADA; encourages meaningful partnerships among government, business, and disability communities to facilitate effective ADA implementation; and conducts leading-edge research to reduce and eliminate barriers to employment and economic self-sufficiency and increase civic and social participation of people with disabilities, including Spanish speakers with disabilities. The Center has a sister website in Spanish that describes what the Center does; shares publications, resources, and services in Spanish; and provides contact information for the Center.
• The Southwest ADA Regional Center maximizes the full inclusion of Spanish speakers with disabilities so they can fully participate in their communities through the ADA. The Center provides training to organization with responsibilities under the ADA, along with advocates and self-advocates so that they can learn more about their rights under the law. They also provide publications and other materials for Spanish speakers with disabilities and advocates, including a guide on the basic concepts of various laws that affect and protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. Spanish speakers with disabilities from the Southwest region of the US can call this Center at 713/520-0232 or email swbtac@ilru.org for assistance.
• The Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures: Building Self-Determination and Community Living and Participation (Pathways RTC) conducts research, training, and dissemination activities that are focused on building self-determination and that enhance the community living and participation outcomes in young people with serious mental health conditions, including Spanish speakers with these conditions. The Pathways RTC features Spanish translations from their original English language publications. These translations include: factsheets on care team meetings, a guide for young adults with serious mental health conditions living on their own for the first time; advice on basic competencies for transition service providers; a guide to help strengthen family support for youths with mental health conditions in transition to adulthood; and more.

These are just a few of the NIDILRR-funded projects providing information and resources to empower Spanish-speakers with disabilities. If you would like to learn more about these and other NIDILRR-funded projects, please contact NARIC’s information specialists to learn more.