Ruiz-Quintanilla

One element lacking in efforts to educate employers and citizens alike about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is an absence of research into impediments to ADA compliance.

A five-year, $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) will seek to correct that. The recipient, the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center-Northeast ADA Center (DBTAC-Northeast) in the Employment and Disability Institute (EDI) of Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), will be able to do the kind of research needed to better understand how to improve employment and community living for the disabled.

"This grant will allow us to continue our mission of increasing knowledge and implementation of the ADA through training, information dissemination and technical assistance," said Tony Ruiz-Quintanilla, director and principal investigator at DBTAC-Northeast. "The addition of a research component creates an exciting opportunity to develop and conduct research, rooted in practice, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life for individuals with disabilities in America."

DBTAC-Northeast at ILR, one of 10 U.S. regional centers, serves New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

DBTAC staff provide training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA throughout Cornell's federal region. The center serves as a neutral resource for employers, businesses, educational entities, disability-rights advocacy organizations and individuals with disabilities.

Ruiz-Quintanilla said it is a perfect example of Cornell's land-grant mission of academic rigor coupled with outreach. In addition to Ruiz-Quintanilla, the DBTAC team includes Hannah Rudstam, extension associate; Sharon Trerise, senior extension associate; Shammi Carr and Richard Vargas, technical assistants; and Barbara Sosna, project assistant.

For more information, call (800) 949-4232, or contact Ruiz-Quintanilla at (607) 255-2132, e-mail sr18@cornell.edu, or visit the DBTAC-Northeast Web site at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped/northeastada/.