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Syracuse University’s recently formed Center on Disability and Inclusion will focus on disability-related research and community engagement at SU and across the region.

The center, which SU’s School of Education launched in the fall, functions as an umbrella for several pre-existing units within the school, including the Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, the Center on Human Policy, and Inclusion and Communication Initiatives.

“The idea for the collaborative umbrella center has been something we have been talking about for years,” said Christine Ashby, the director of the center and an associate professor of inclusive special education and disability studies. “(We) coordinated the center so that we could support each other, we could share resources (and) we could collaborate in different ways,”

The Center on Disability and Inclusion is funded by the Taishoff Family Foundation, which also helped establish the Taishoff Center. It has already launched two programs, Pre-Employment Transition Services and the Mid-State Partnership, which provides support to teachers, administrators and families for instructing and caring for students with disabilities. 

CDI’s goal is to ensure that children who are receiving special education services in schools and programs across the country receive as much time in the general education classroom as possible, said Shana Lewis, the system changes facilitator for the Mid-State Partnership. 

“The center is at the early beginnings,” Lewis said. “Our knowledge base is so large, and we have a lot of specialists that have worked in the field for years.”

The CDI also provides post-secondary support and career opportunities for students with disabilities. 

The Mid-State Partnership, alongside Pre-Employment Transition Services, helps connect local students with work-based learning opportunities and career explorations.

CDI has also been working to support students with autism in college, Ashby said. 

CDI’s upcoming projects involve workshops that help students with autism choose specific soft skills, such as communication, time management and listening, that they want to work on in college and as they enter the workforce, Ashby said. 

The Taishoff Center has been working on a similar initiative that uses “person-centered planning” to allow students with disabilities to make their own decisions while planning their futures, said Beth Myers, who is the assistant director of the CDI. 

“We as a campus have been at the forefront of innovation in disability and disability rights and research for 50 years,” Myers said. “Right now, we are working on this person-centered planning and how (it’s) infused into the college advising process.”

The CDI is continuing research and providing both in-person and remote academic services. Ashby also said that changes in leadership at the state and national levels will provide more opportunities for the center to make an impact. 

President Joe Biden has pledged to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and recently nominated current Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona as his secretary of education.

Cardona met with several disability rights activists in June to discuss school discipline as well as higher education opportunities and equity throughout the coronavirus pandemic for students with disabilities.

“We are really trying to capitalize on (leadership changes) and think about building relationships with our local government officials as we think about what we want the future of disability and education to look like under this new administration,” Ashby said.

Published on February 9, 2021 at 10:15 pm

Contact Hannah: hngonzal@syr.edu