May 16, 2025
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TASH advances equity, opportunity, and inclusion for individuals with disabilities, with a focus on those with the most significant support needs in the areas of education, employment, and community living through advocacy, research and practice. Since its inception in 1975, TASH has championed evidence-based policies and practices that advance inclusion; as such, supporting rigorous research is core to its mission.
Individuals with disabilities who have significant support needs are at risk of being subjected to low expectations, physical and social isolation, limited work opportunities, poverty, and poor health outcomes. These barriers and many others too often prevent their pursuit of personal goals and interests and meaningful outcomes based on each individual’s strengths, preferences, and informed choice as required in all federal disability statutes and regulations.
To prevent these outcomes, TASH supports research that results in individuals with disabilities with the most significant support needs (and their families) gaining the skills, training and support to live in the communities of their choosing, attend schools with their neighbors and siblings where they progress in the general education curriculum in the inclusive classroom, form meaningful relationships, develop communication and self-determination skills, and have the assistive technology tools to live and work productively in communities.
Rigorous research is critical to understand the lived experiences of people with disabilities and generate new knowledge to improve the capacity of individuals with disabilities to live, learn, work in their communities. Practices and policies rooted in rigorous research have the potential to dismantle systemic barriers and inequities that marginalize individuals with disabilities.
Rigorous research should:
- Focus on the strengths, assets, and contributions of individuals with significant support needs.
- Include culturally and socioeconomically diverse individuals and families and recognize their contributions and effectively addresses their support needs in all aspects of life. This should include partnerships with K-12 school teams, community colleges, vocational education, community service providers and employers, and considers differences across communities.
- Engage various stakeholders in developing innovations, such as individuals with significant support needs, their teachers, families, and community service partners, who will ultimately benefit from the research. This ensures that the research findings and innovations will be relevant to all key stakeholders.
- Provide the necessary resources and support for individuals with disabilities to partner with researchers to design, implement, interpret, and disseminate research. Research has the potential to have a more significant impact when individuals with significant support needs are included throughout the research process as equal partners.
- Ensure elimination of barriers to study participants with significant support needs, such as exclusionary eligibility criteria or failure to provide accommodations. Research findings may not benefit individuals with significant support needs if they are not adequately supported to enroll and participate in research.
- Inform practices and policies that uphold the rights of people with significant support needs and dismantle systemic barriers to their opportunity and inclusion.
TASH Recommendations on Federal Funding for Research
Federal funding is necessary to conduct rigorous research that advances equity, opportunity, and inclusion for individuals with disabilities. To conduct rigorous research, there is a need for federal funding to:
- Develop and evaluate continuously emerging and evidence-based practices;
- Understand the diverse experiences of individuals with significant support needs;
- Conduct large scale studies investigating the opportunities individuals with significant support needs have wherein they are included in their school, work, and community;
- Provide technical assistance to states, districts, schools, service providers, and families about how to implement equitable and inclusive services to individuals with significant support needs;
- Train leaders in the field. Graduate and undergraduate students, in particular, support the research process and ensure leaders are well-prepared to conduct research and prepare invested stakeholders such as teachers, related services providers, scholars, family members, and community members for the future.
TASH urges policymakers in the Administration and Congress to strengthen, not cut, vitally important funding for research that benefits individuals with disabilities, their families, service providers, and communities. Research is essential to establish evidence-based practices and inform effective policy making. Therefore, Congress and the Administration should support research through the agencies that play these critical roles, including:
- U.S Department of Health and Human Services
- Administration for Community Living
- Administration on Disability
- National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Administration for Community Living
- The National Science Foundation (NSF)
- U.S. Department of Education
- Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
- Rehabilitation Services Administration
- U.S. Department of Labor
- Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
- Wage and Hour Division
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Veterans Administration (VA)
We also urge Congress and the Administration to continue funding University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs). UCEDDs play a critical role in promoting opportunities for individuals with disabilities to be included in their communities by (a) training service providers, (b) partnering with people with disabilities and their families, (c) conducting and applying research to improve practices, and (d) providing technical assistance to schools, agencies, and communities. Federal funding supports the ability of UCEDDs to implement and sustain long-term, equity-driven initiatives that are responsive to local contexts within each state.
We also call on national policymakers, federal agencies, and research partners at universities and other research entities to raise awareness and visibility of research that benefits individuals with disabilities who have significant support needs and to continue to improve coordination among federal agencies to allow for a more holistic approach to research that results in evidence-based practices and policies.