NIDILRR-Funded Consumer Products for the LGBTQIA2S+ and Disability Communities

Just as their peers without disabilities, people with disabilities may experience a broad spectrum of sexuality and gender identities (PDF). Recent research has shown that people in the LGBTQIA2S+* community may be more likely to have a disability than the general population. LGBTQIA2S+ people with disabilities face similar challenges as their peers without disabilities due to their sexuality and gender expression. They also face challenges due to their disabilities that their LGBTQIA2S+ peers, heterosexual peers, and cis-gender people do not experience. For example, many Pride activities may not be accessible due to a lack of accessible venues or facilities, access to ASL interpreters, or a lack of sensory safe places. 

NARIC’s information specialists are often asked for information and resources from people with disabilities in the LGBTQIA2S+ community and from community organizers on creating inclusive and welcoming events, spaces, and programs. This month, we are highlighting evidence-based consumer products from the NIDILRR community for LGBTQIA2S+ people with disabilities, the LGBTQIA2S+ community, and community organizers, which may include guides, calendars, factsheets, and more.

Below, you will find just a few examples of evidence-based consumer products produced by the NIDILRR community:

• The Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL) provides disability stakeholders with accurate, current, and actionable information on how recent changes in health policy directly or indirectly impact the community living and participation of working-age adults with disabilities, including LGBTQIA2S+ adults with disabilities. CHRIL’s resources include:
  • CHRIL’s Disability Stories Project, a video interview series with disability advocates discussing their past struggles with the US healthcare system. The series includes Mel’s story of being at the crossroads of disability and queer identity; how they felt pressure to align with one community over another; and deciding to advocate for the intersection between them.
  • A 3-course series of online self-paced tutorials on disability and health insurance. The series is a web-based, user-friendly curriculum that is designed to provide essential, fundamental knowledge of how the Affordable Care Act’s implementation affects working-age adults with disabilities, including those in the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Topics include disability and health insurance, Medicaid 101, and categorical Medicaid. The courses are fully accessible and available on-demand.
• NARIC’s The Research In Focus article, Sexual and Gender Minorities with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) May Face Challenges to Getting Needed Healthcare, discusses a study from CHRIL that looked at the healthcare experiences of adults with ASD who identified as LGBTQ+. This article is also available in Spanish.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Network Knowledge Translation Center (ADAKTC) serves as a platform to facilitate and support increased implementation of the ADA across all ADA stakeholders, including the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community with disabilities and LGBTQIA2S+-friendly business and event planners may contact their regional ADA Center to learn more about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA.  ADAKTC’s publications include a series of factsheets related to facility access and parking that include:
  • A Planning Guide for Making Temporary Events Accessible to People with Disabilities, this guide includes planners for Pride events.
  • Adjusting doors for access and opening doors to everyone.
  • And a factsheet for small businesses and the ADA.
• The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures: Supporting Successful Transition for Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions (Pathways RTC) developed research- and evidence-based resources for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions as they transition from youth to adulthood, from high school to secondary education or employment, and more. These resources included:
  • The Pathways Comics – a series of comics created by and for youth with mental health conditions and the people who care about them that discuss a range of topics from exploring strategies for engaging young people in services to ways to build trust and identifying natural supports and how to ask for help.
  • For service providers, Pathways RTC’s archived webinars present research about effective and emerging practices for serving transition-age youth and young adults with mental health conditions, including LGBTQIA2S+ youth and young adults. The series included this webinar, Creating inclusive programming and practice for LGBTQ youth through awareness, that presents information and key definitions for organizations that provide programs and services in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning/queer (LGBTQ) youth.
  • A video on why it is important that youth participate in planning.

To learn more about these and other products from the NIDILRR community, contact NARIC’s information specialists.

*LGBTQIA2S+ is the collective acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, and other expressions of gender and/or sexuality.