New England DBTAC: ADA Center stays home – at Adaptive Environments - for the next five years.

We are pleased to announce that Adaptive Environments has been awarded the contract for the New England DBTAC: ADA Center for another five years. Adaptive Environments has been home to the ADA Center for the past ten years.

The ADA Center (http://www.NewEnglandDBTAC.org) is one of ten regional Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTACS) funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) comprising a nation-wide infrastructure (http://www.adata.org) to support voluntary compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Regional centers share an 800-949-4232 number and are responsible for explaining the ADA through: technical assistance, training, public awareness and dissemination of federally approved materials on the ADA.

In 2006, our responsibilities expanded to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. To that end, we have built a new set of partnerships and collaborations with the: Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, New England Board of Higher Education, Eastern Alliance in Science, Engineering, Technology and Math at the University of Southern Maine, Association of Higher Education and Disability, and Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities.

Descriptive and evidence-based research will be conducted driving new insights and practices allowing people with disabilities across the spectrum of age, culture and ability to thrive in their academic and work lives. The new DBTAC focus arrives just in time to sound a regional alarm bell to identify solutions that link success–in-learning to success- in-work for people traditionally left behind. New England’s comfortable educational Mecca with a host of cutting edge businesses will not be recognizable in 20 years unless the region bridges the gulf between an aging advantaged population and a poorer, younger population commonly failed by the current higher educational system and unable to take advantage of good work.  The timing is ideal. There is no aspect of the ADA more urgently important to address than the equal opportunity to work and thrive.

We look forward to discovering innovative solutions for improving future employment prospects for people with disabilities and improving understanding and implementation of the ADA in New England.

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