Research > Topics > Disabilities

Disabilities

Americans with Disabilities Act
General information
Blindness
Deafness & hearing loss

Deaf-blindness
Paralysis / paraplegia / quadriplegia
Brain injury

Americans with Disabilities Act

ADA Home Page: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

General and specific information for ADA; to access current law and federal regulations, select "Technical Assistance Materials"; select "ADA Technical Assistance Materials"; then go to ADA Legal Documents.
DisabilityInfo.gov: http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/

A comprehensive online resource designed to provide people with disabilities with the information they need to know quickly and easily. The site provides access to disability-related information and programs available across the government on numerous subjects, including civil rights, community life, education, employment, housing, health, income support, technology and transportation.
Northwest Americans with Disabilities Act and Information Technology Center: http://www.nwada.org/

Located at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, this institute provides technical assistance, training, and dissemination of information regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessible education-based information technology. Register online for e-mail updates about specific topics of interest. Free web accessibility assessment for schools and other services in support of equal technology access.
Oregon Disability Commission's ADA and Disability Technical Assistance Center: http://www.odc.state.or.us/odctac.htm

ADA documents, statistics, and information collated by the Oregon Disability Commission.

General information

American Association of People with Disabilities: http://www.aapd-dc.org/

A national advocacy organization, dedicated to ensuring economic self-sufficiency and political empowerment for the more than 56 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD works in coalition with other disability organizations for the full implementation and enforcement of disability nondiscrimination laws, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Equal Employment Opportunities Commission: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/ada.html

Laws about employment for people who need accommodation under the ADA. The section titled "The Questions and Answers Series" is very useful and well-written for employment-related questions.
The Family Village: http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/

This is an excellent site for finding information and links to a wide variety of illnesses and diseases. To locate information on a disease, go into the icon marked "LIBRARY". A card catalog will appear with a letter on each drawer. Select the drawer with the first letter of the disability/disease name and look through the list.
Independent Living Resources: http://www.ilr.org/

Portland, Oregon advocacy organization dedicated to the philosophy of Independent Living by creating opportunities, encouraging choices, advancing equal access, and furthering the level of independence for all people with disabilities. Services for employers and businesses to help them provide better access for citizens and customers with disabilities, including Braille transcription. Subscribe to the newsletter for events and programs.
ITTATC: http://www.ittatc.org/

The Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center strives to increase the availability of accessible technology in the United States. In particular, ITTATC focuses on improving the accessibility and usability of information and telecommunication technology, such as computers, websites, and telephones, and on office technology, such as copiers and fax machines. This organization has produced excellent publications, such as Speak Out! About Inaccessible Information and Telecommunication Technology A paper copy of this publication is available at the Multnomah County Central Library, Call number: 303.4833 S741 2004.
The Job Accommodations Network: http://www.jan.wvu/

This is an excellent resource for ADA information, disability information, employer resource, disabilities A-Z, legislative updates, and publications.
Omni Media Networks: http://www.omnimedianetworks.org/

This public-benefit, non-profit organization provides information, education, and entertainment for people who are unable to read traditional printed material, including the physically disabled, and senior citizens. They provide audio streams (webcasts) available over the Internet, with high-contrast text, minimal graphics, and simple design for easy accessibility for the vision-impaired.
Oregon Parent and Training Information Center: http://www.orpti.org/index.htm

A statewide organization based in Salem, this center offers support for parents, families and professionals in building partnerships that meet the needs of children and youth with the full range of disabilities ages birth through twenty six. Oregon PTI provides programs and services throughout the state.
Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement Disability Program: http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=28994

The mission of this local governmental organization is to connect, support and encourage collaborative civic engagement between the people of the disability community, neighborhoods and city government.
Portland State University Assistive Technology Center: http://www.pdx.edu/library/assistive.html

The ATC is a resource center with an on-site computer lab with assistive technologies for people with orthopedic, visual, hearing and learning impairments. ATC Staff provide assistive technology evaluations, and training. Appointments are recommended for training and evaluation sessions. The ATC Computer Lab is open on a drop-in basis.
Teaching Research Institute: http://www.tr.wou.edu/index.cfm?

An institute at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, that offers assessment programs, coordination with schools, and workshops to help strengthen educational programs in Oregon for students with disabilities. The institute is guided by partnerships with consumers, families and practitioners, and measures the effectiveness of its work by its impact on their lives.
United States Access Board: http://www.access-board.gov/

An independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. The Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology. It also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on accessible design and continues to enforce accessibility standards that cover federally funded facilities. The web site includes specifications for public spaces to insure equal access for everyone.
Women with Disabilities: http://www.4women.gov/wwd/index.htm

Provides information on a wide variety of disabilities and social issues that affect women with disabilities including abuse, laws and regulations, and support services; it also includes fulltext pamphlets and articles from a variety of government sources in both English and Spanish. This site is part of the National Women's Health Information Center, a project of the Office on Women's Health from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Blindness

Accessible Search Engines: http://www.deafblind.com/search.html

Alternative search screens to various search engines with much less text and no graphics. Allows quicker access to searching for the blind and deafblind.
Blind Net: http://www.blind.net/blindind.htm

Links to organizations of and for the blind, and general information about blindness, including an interesting section on interacting with the blind. The emphasis is on social aspects of blindness.
Blindspots: http://www.vashti.net/blind/table.htm

Movie reviews for the blind. Ratings reflect the following criteria--the reviewer's ability to follow the story with or without a sighted interpreter filling in description, the clarity and distinction of each character and their voice, and noise level/action on screen which may affect the ability to hear descriptions.
Blindness Resource Center: http://www.nyise.org/blind.htm

Blindness megasite from the New York Institute for Special Education. The emphasis is on day-to-day needs of the blind, including links to Braille history and literacy pages and information on other disabilities.
Oregon Commission for the Blind: http://www.cfb.state.or.us/Blind/services.shtml

Portland-based training programs for technology, independent living skills, employment and other services, for citizens with visual impairments.

Deafness & hearing loss

The Audiology Awareness Campaign's Hearing Help Library: http://www.audiologyawareness.com/hhelp/lib.htm

Basic information explaining the various types of hearing loss, how to read an audiogram, information on hearing aids, and other information on hearing aids and assistive devices.
Captioned Media Program: http://www.cfv.org/

The mission of this national program is to provide all persons who are deaf or hard of hearing equal access to communication and learning, through the use of captioned educational media and supportive collateral materials. They offer a media loan program for video, dvd, and cd-roms, and serve as a clearinghouse for captioning resources and training.
CODA International: http://www.coda-international.org/

CODA is a support group for hearing people raised by deaf parents.
Deaf-L FAQ: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/deaf-info/

An all-inclusive document on deafness, hearing loss, deaf social issues, and attitudes. Much of the information was culled from the Deaf-L Listserv.
Deaf Resource Library: http://www.deaflibrary.org/

Karen Nakamura is a graduate student working on a Doctorate in Anthropology at Yale. Her focus is Japanese Deaf culture. This is a wonderful megasite with links to world-wide organizations of and for the Deaf and hard of hearing.
National Association of the Deaf (NAD): http://www.nad.org/

One of the leading associations of, by, and for the Deaf community.
Oregon Association of the Deaf: http://www.deaforegon.com/

A non-profit association that monitors the Oregon State Legislature for bills that impact deaf citizens in Oregon, and provides other advocacy services.
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH): http://www.shhh.org/

National organization for hard of hearing people, providing information about their organization with links to other resources on hearing loss.
State of Oregon Deaf and Hard of Hearing Access Program: http://www.odc.state.or.us/dhhap/index.htm

The Oregon Disabilities Commission has prepared a site identifying programs available to Deaf and hard of hearing residents of Oregon. The DHHAP Technical Assistance and Information Center is a collection of documents collated from many sources, which provides information on a variety of topics related to deafness and hearing loss.
Tripod Captioned Films: http://www.tripod.org/

Tripod captions popular films for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing audience. Includes a list of popular titles and the dates they play locally.

Deaf-blindness

DB-Link: http://www.tr.wou.edu/dblink/index2.htm

A federally-sponsored link to resources for deaf-blind children and young adults. Provides information and links to programs and sites nationally and internationally.
Deafblind Link: http://www.deafblind.com

This site provides information and links to deafblind resources and includes some commentary and a page discussing British Sign Language and how the deafblind communicate with others.
Oregon Deafblind Project: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=185

Division of the Oregon Department of Education that provides a wide range of services for families and schools in support of deafblind children and youth.

Paralysis / paraplegia / quadriplegia

Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation: http://www.paralysis.org/

The Christopher Reeve Foundation website has a wealth of information about spinal cord injuries, coping with paralysis, research into therapies and potential cures.
WheelchairJunkie.Com: http://www.wheelchairjunkie.com/

Evaluations of wheelchairs by the people who use them. Includes monthly columns of interest to people who use wheelchairs.

Brain Injury

Oregon Brain Injury Resource Network: http://www.tr.wou.edu/tbi/

Obirn's website has information about resources for families, patients and professionals who deal with traumatic brain injuries. Oregon links are featured, as well as a literature database for further research.

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