Changing Systems and Empowering People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Obtain Employment on Inclusive Research Teams - The Kansas University Center on Disabilities (KUCD) proposes, over the course of this three-year project, to test, explore, and adaptively develop inclusive research practices to advance inclusive disability and rehabilitation research and create career pathways for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, particularly those that experience intersectionality. The goal of the proposed research project is to intentionally operationalize needed inclusive research practices to support access to training and careers for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to advance environmental changes needed in the research enterprise to increase the feasibility of adoption of inclusive research practices. This project will be implemented by KUCD’s inclusive research team that has multiple members with lived experience with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other intersectional identities. We will complete three studies that test, explore and adaptively design an Inclusive Research Learning Series (IRLS) and Inclusive Research Toolkit. Our objectives focus on further testing the IRLS, which was created and has been piloted tested with emerging researchers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to learn about and join inclusive teams, as well as explore the environmental supports needed to enable disability and rehabilitation researchers to adopt and sustain inclusive research practices. We will use this information to adaptively design the IRLS and a Toolkit and website for disseminating and tracking adoption of inclusive research practices and job opportunities in research careers. We will examine outcomes including knowledge of inclusive research practices, adoption of practices, and removal of barriers to careers. The expected products, the IRLS, Inclusive Research Toolkit and website, will be immediately available to advance inclusive research, support career pathways in inclusive research, and be further evaluated for scalability and efficacy.
