March News from the Lurie Institute

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Dr. Mitra Featured in a Mother Jones Article About Eugenics-Era Laws 📰

Dr. Monika Mitra, the Lurie Institute’s Director, was quoted in a Mother Jones article about the role opposing forced sterilization plays in confronting how disabled people are viewed as parents.

A speech bubble with a quote by Dr. Monika Mitra, The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy Director. "If you can call out eugenics, and if we can call out sterilization [and] institutionalization, we can think about how we as a society view whether disabled people should be pregnant and whether disabled people should be parents".

Read the article here

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month!

Throughout the month of March, we are highlighting some of our work and resources created for this important part of the disability community.

Our Resources:

Lurie Postdoctoral Fellowship in Disability and Health Policy

Apply now for the Lurie Institute’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Disability and Health Policy, designed for researchers passionate about maternal health and disability.

This fellowship combines rigorous research, mentorship, and community partnerships to advance research on the health, wellbeing, and social inclusion of people with disabilities.

Learn more and apply on our website

Register for our Upcoming Webinar 💻

Accessibility and Health Starts Before Pregnancy: Tailored Preconception Education with People with Mobility Disabilities

Promotional flyer for the webinar "Accessibility and Health Starts Before Pregnancy: Tailored Preconception Education with People with Mobility Disabilities" on April 2, 2025, at 12:00 PM ET. Speakers are John Harris and Kieran O’Brien Kern, with their photos shown. A "Register now!" button is included. Logos for Brandeis University, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, and the National Center for Disability & Pregnancy Research appear over a wave-patterned background, along with accessibility icons to show that we will be providing ASL and Zoom automated captions.

Join the Disability & Pregnancy Center for their upcoming webinar, where John Harris and Kieran O’Brien Kern will share their research on disability-tailored preconception education, and discuss how to prepare for a healthy pregnancy while living with a disability.

Our Latest Publications 📄

Research Briefs

Bar chart titled 'Number of Transitions to the Community, 2017-21,' showing the number of transitions for each year. In 2017, there were 10,396 transitions; in 2018, 7,671 transitions; in 2019, 4,173 transitions; in 2020, 4,549 transitions; and in 2021, 5,755 transitions. The data source is cited as 'Murray et al., 2024.' The chart uses dark blue bars to represent the values.

States Should Use the Money Follows the Person Program More to Improve Access to Home and Community-Based Services and Outcomes

A laptop with analytical data on the screen

The Quality of Race and Ethnicity Data Among Medicaid Beneficiaries Receiving Long-Term Services and Supports

Legal Ableism: A Systematic Review of State Termination of Parental Rights Laws Policy Brief

Research Articles

Longitudinal Trajectories of Maternal Stress for Mothers with Intellectual Disabilities and Borderline Intellectual Functioning: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study

Aging with a disability: A call for research, policy, and practice

Explorations of the long term supports coordinator role in managed care for people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid: A participatory action research-informed study

A mother signing with her child in the woods, with the father seen in the background. The text reads: Submit a Blog.

Submit a Parenting Blog 📝

Are you a parent with a disability? Are you interested in sharing a blog post about adaptable summer activities with your kids, or other topics relevant to parents with disabilities?

We’d love to hear from you! Share your experiences with us in our Parents with Disabilities Blog.

Submit your blog post

Research Participant Opportunities 💬

If you are a mother with an intellectual or developmental disability, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy wants to talk with you about your positive parenting experiences!

We'd love to hear about your experience!

To volunteer, you must:

Speak English, Spanish, or ASL
Be 18 or older
Have an intellectual or developmental disability
Have had a baby within the past 5 years

You will receive a $50 gift card for participating Interested? Please contact Miriam Heyman: MiriamHeyman@brandeis.edu or 1-781-736-5328

Note: Do not share this study opportunity on social media. We want to avoid bots and scammers. Thank you!

This study is funded by The National Research Consortium on Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Looking for Disabled People of Color Who Are Self-Directing Their Services

study promotional flyer. available to download on website in spanish and english

Are you a disabled person of color?
Do you self-direct? This means:
You recruit, hire, train or supervise your direct care workers AND/OR
You have control over a budget and decide how to spend the money on your services?
Are you 18 years of age or older?

If you answered YES to each of the questions above, you may be eligible to participate.

Learn more on our Self-Direction and Community Living Outcomes for People of Color study webpage.

Watch or share our recruitment video on YouTube.

Looking for people of color who self-direct their services

Follow us on Social Media 📲