About Us - ICDR History
Mission
Strategic Goals
Structure
Subcommittees
ICDR History
Since 1978, the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) has carried out congressionally mandated activities and offered recommendations on disability and rehabilitation policies and regulations. The ICDR has also provided feedback to member agencies on long-range plans and priorities; and promoted coordinated information sharing and dissemination, collaborative research planning, and coordinated federal disability and rehabilitation research agenda setting.
The ICDR is composed of an Executive Committee, comprised of the statutory members or their designees, and Subcommittees. In 1996, the ICDR established the Interagency Subcommittee on Technology (IST) and created the Interagency Subcommittee on Medical Rehabilitation (ISMR) the following year. These two subcommittees designed to expand collaboration and communication among researchers and agencies in two priority areas joined the long-standing Interagency Subcommittee on Disability Statistics (ISDS) to promote a forward-looking research agenda. The ICDR subcommittees focused their agendas on two key recommendations adopted in 1997: (1) to promote the conduct of coordinated disability and rehabilitation research activities that reflect responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of individuals with disabilities; and (2) to promote and facilitate a coordinated federal disability and rehabilitation research agenda across the federal government. As new subcommittees were established these recommendations were acknowledged and integrated across the ICDR agenda.
The ICDR's Interagency Subcommittee on Employment (ISE) was established in 2004 with goals of assessing gaps and needs for disability employment research and knowledge; facilitating information sharing; and promoting research coordination and collaboration. Also, in 2009, the ICDR created the Interagency Subcommittee on Education (ISED) to focus on the promotion of collaborative research activities in the area of education. The ISED works to establish goals and implement a multi-year action plan addressing a variety of key education related research and development issues including efforts to promote a coordinated approach for addressing capacity building needs and strategies to increase the number of researchers who investigate student transition issues, the intersection of health and education, and outcomes for students with disabilities.
In 2005, the ICDR worked to ensure the inclusion of the needs of individuals with disabilities in the national discourse on health disparities. The ICDR review of disparity-related research activities, State of the Science, Healthy People 2010 goals; and collaboration with the recent establishment of the CDC-led Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research (FCHDR) Workgroup, influenced and supported the ICDR decision to promote appropriate attention to health disparities issues for persons with disabilities. This led to the formation of the Interagency Subcommittee on Health and Health Disparities (ISHHD) in 2011.
At present, four active subcommittees and a forum support the Executive Committee. The Interagency Subcommittee on Technology (IST) has been renamed the Assistive Technology/Technology Forum (AT/T). The Interagency Subcommittee on Disability Statistics (ISDS), the Interagency Subcommittee on Employment (ISE), the Interagency Subcommittee on Medical Rehabilitation (ISMR), and the Interagency Subcommittee on Health Disparities (ISHHD) are all active subcommittees under the Executive Committee.