The countdown has started. Robert Gould has 73 days before federal funding delays ruin decades of his institution’s work increasing knowledge and understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It’s sickening,” said Gould, a professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at University of Illinois Chicago, and the director of research for the Great Lakes ADA Center. “So many people rely on and use our services. … It’s not a partisan issue, so it doesn’t make sense to me that these delays keep on happening.”
The Chicago-based ADA center is part of a national network of centers that provide services like a hotline where people can get help with everything related to the landmark disability law. Small business owners inquire about service dogs, employers ask about accessibility concerns — the calls pour in five days a week to help people with disabilities live a full life. Their funding runs out on Aug. 31.
Gould is not the only one. Hundreds of disability researchers across the United States worry about their jobs, and the future of their institutions as governmental delay in grant funding drags on several months behind schedule. These researchers are funded through National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the only federal body focused on disability research.
