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About WID/WID in Brief

The mission of the World Institute on Disability (WID) in communities and nations worldwide is to eliminate barriers to full social integration and increase employment, economic security and health care for persons with disabilities. WID creates innovative programs and tools; conducts research, public education, training and advocacy campaigns; and provides technical assistance. An internationally recognized public policy center founded in 1983 by leaders of the Independent Living Movement, WID's 
program work focuses on issues and problems that directly affect people's ability to live full and independent lives. A majority of the Board and staff are persons with disabilities. 

Access to Assets 

Approximately 20% of the United States population 
lives with some level of disability, and people with 
disabilities are almost three times as likely to live in 
poverty than any other group. WID's Access to 
Assets project opens doors for the disability 
community by promoting asset-building and 
financial literacy among people with disabilities. 
Asset building is an anti-poverty strategy helping 
low-income people move toward greater economic 
independence by saving and purchasing long-term 
assets. Building assets, as a complement to 
increasing income, provides the stability necessary 
to escape the cycle of poverty. 

With support from the National Institute on 
Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the 
Friedman Family Foundation and other generous 
funders, Access to Assets bridges the gap 
between the asset building and disability 
communities through the following services: 

.Training and Technical Assistance: Advise 
asset-building organizations how to include 
consumers with disabilities in their programs. 

.Disability Community Outreach: Inform disability 
organizations about available programs and 
relevant federal policy. 

.Policy Analysis: Develop and influence federal 
asset-building legislation conducive to the 
participation of people with disabilities. 

.Public Education: Produce monthly EQUITY e-
newsletter. The newsletter includes articles by 
leaders in the field, program administrators, and 
participants in asset-building programs, helpful 
tips, answers to questions about disability issues, 
federal policy updates, and resources. Read 
current and past editions of EQUITY at 
http://www.wid.org/equity 

.Information and Referral: Toll-free hotline serves 
individuals with disabilities seeking information on 
how to participate in poverty reduction programs. 
For more information, contact Thomas Foley, WID 
Deputy Director/Program Director, at tom@wid.org 
or toll-free 1-866-723-1201. 

Work Incentives Initiative

WID launched the Work Incentives Initiative (WII) 
in 2000 to provide information on health coverage, 
work, and benefits to youth and adults with 
disabilities in California and to develop community 
based public policy recommendations. 

Through Disability Benefits 101 Information 
Services, WII provides community outreach, 
training and web-based services, including one-onone 
technical assistance at its website, Disability 
Benefits 101 (www.DB101.org), to Californians 
with disabilities. The site offers easy to understand, 
practical information on public and private benefits, 
employment services, and other programs, as well 
as interactive benefits calculators. WII has also 
created benefits calculators for the state of New 
Jersey and has calculators in development in 
Minnesota. 

In addition to its information services, WII also 
develops community based public policy 
recommendations in California and at the national 
level. As part of this effort, it staffs a statewide 
policy, education, and discussion forum on health, 
work, benefits, and disability -The California Work 
Group on Work Incentives and Health Care (the 
CWG). 

WII has received funding from the California Health 
Incentives Improvement Project, The California 
Endowment, the Social Security Administration, 
and individual training and event sponsors. 

For more information, contact Bryon MacDonald, 
Program Director, at bryon@wid.org. 

Disaster Preparedness and Response 

WID and the American Red Cross (ARC) launched 
an innovative national training, awareness and 
action program to help ARC staff and volunteers 
better serve people with disabilities during 
disasters. 

Funded by a grant from the Verizon Foundation, 
the program is improving emergency preparedness 
and disaster response by ARC staff and volunteers 
for people with disabilities; increasing collaboration 
between the ARC and local community-based 
disability organizations; and increasing 
understanding of the needs of people with 
disabilities in disaster situations. 

For more information, contact Thomas Foley, WID 
Deputy Director/Program Director, at 
tom@wid.org. 

Health Access and Long Term Services 

WID addresses health care disparities for people 
with disabilities by working to improve access to 
quality, culturally competent healthcare and 
services. 

Funded by The California Wellness Foundation 
and building on other training resources, the MAP 
to Health Access Project is addressing the 
substantial health disparities for women with 
disabilities that result from medical providersâ lack 
of knowledge about their responsibility to comply 
with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 
project will empower disabled women and improve 
care for their unique health care needs by training 
them in self-advocacy skills to enable them to 
become educators and resource people to their 
own health providers and local health care 
organizations about these rights and the resources 
required to enact them. The MAP Project offers 
research, education, training, technical assistance 
and technical resources, and will develop a 
comprehensive training curriculum, including high-
motivation learning tools and downloadable, web-
based materials, so women with disabilities may 
learn about their right to accessible, quality health 
care as stipulated by federal law. WID will 
disseminate MAP for Health Access in English and 
Spanish throughout California to womenâs health 
and disability community organizations. 

Access to Medical Care: Adults with Physical 
Disabilities is a 20-minute video/DVD and training 
curriculum for physicians, dentists, nurses, and 
other medical staff about key issues that influence 
the quality of care in outpatient clinical settings. 
The video uses interviews with medical providers 
and a diverse group of people with disabilities to 
address cultural competence; access and 
communication issues in the clinic; common myths 
and stereotypes about disability that interfere with 
accurate assessment of patients; and barriers to 
health care delivery. The training curriculum offers 
case-based learning exercises and extensive in-
depth reference materials about appropriate 
provision of care, specific skills to increase good 
communication and rapport, and compliance with 
the Americans with Disabilities Act. The curriculum 
emphasizes access and communication as the 
fundamental components in addressing health 
care disparities for people with disabilities. 

WID also seeks to improve the quality and 
availability of long-term services for people with 
disabilities, such as Personal Assistance Services 
(often referred to as home health care) that help 
people with activities of daily living, such as 
dressing, bathing and eating. Such assistance can 
make the critical difference between independent 
living in the community or institutionalization. 

Unfortunately, instances of physical or emotional 
abuse in such settings are alarmingly high, so WID 
created the Curriculum on Abuse Prevention 
and Empowerment (CAPE), a comprehensive 
training curriculum to educate service providers, 
people with disabilities and family members about 
abuse awareness and prevention strategies. 
Funded by the National Institute on Disability 
Rehabilitation and Research, CAPE explores 
fundamental issues of abuse, best-practices 
training approaches, and personal narratives of 
successful interventions. The CAPE website 
(www.wid.org/cape) offers an introduction and 
sampling of the texts, tools and activities of its 
curriculum in both English and Spanish. 

For more information, contact Dr. Marsha Saxton, 
Senior Researcher/Program Director, at 
marsax@wid.org. 

International Program 

WIDâs International Program provides training and 
technical assistance to disabled persons 
organizations (DPOs) in developing countries to 
conduct effective disability advocacy, community 
barrier removal and public education campaigns; 
develop programs and national policies; and create 
networks and national coalitions to promote the full 
inclusion of people with disabilities into all aspects 
of society. Since 2004, WID has worked in 
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Georgia, Iraq, 
Russia and Uzbekistan. 

Georgian Wheelchair Production Network 

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International 
Development (USAID), WID's International 
Program launched in 2009 a 3-year project in the 
Republic of Georgia. Working in partnership with 
Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI) and the 
Coalition for Independent Living in Georgia, along 
with their regional member organizations, the 
Association of Disabled Women and Mothers of 
Disabled Children in Zugdidi and the Association of 
Gori Disabled Club, the project is setting up a 
sustainable wheelchair production and repair 
facility in Tbilisi; a postural support seating and 
cushion service; networked wheelchair sales, 
distribution and repair businesses in Gori and 
Zugdidi; a mobility, self-care, and advocacy skills 
training system for men and women who use 
wheelchairs; and business and advocacy networks 
between disability communities in Georgia. The 
project will also conduct advocacy, public 
education, and community accessibility barrier 
removal activities in Tbilisi, Gori and Zugdidi. Most 
of the factory workers and advocacy team 
members are people with disabilities, and almost 
all are wheelchair users. 

The factory will produce a minimum of 1,000 low-
cost, high-quality Whirlwind RoughRiderú indoor-
outdoor wheelchairs and eventually other assistive 
mobility devices for Georgian wheelchair users. 
The Association of Gori Disabled Club will make 
pressure relieving wheelchair cushions, and local 
professionals at the Children's Center for 
Rehabilitation will be trained in adaptive seating 
and will fit and produce supported seating for 
children who use wheelchairs. 

The advocacy teams will conduct peer support 
groups, regional mobility and self-help skills camps 
for wheelchair users, and disability awareness and 
community access/barrier-removal trainings and 
roundtables to educate NGO staff, media 
professionals, teachers, government officials, 
lawyers, and architects about the need to improve 
community access; improve access to key public 
buildings by identifying and removing barriers; 
increase public awareness via organizing disability 
film exhibitions, media and poster competitions, 
and the production of a public education video to 
be shown at film exhibitions and on Georgian 
national television as well as a public service 
announcement for broadcast on local radio 
stations on community accessibility and a barrier-
free environment; and host National Forums on 
Community Accessibility for government officials 
and lawmakers, professionals, media, and persons 
with mobility impairments and their families on 
issues and lessons learned in Georgia and to 
discuss strategies for implementation of legislation 
promoting a barrier free environment. 

For more information, contact Bruce Curtis, 
Program Director, at bruce@wid.org. 

Proyecto Visi—n 

Proyecto Visi—n, the first national technical 
assistance center for Latinos with disabilities, was 
established to provide services to employers, 
service providers, and jobseekers to address 
barriers to Latinos effectively utilizing disability 
services and connecting to work. Since 2001, 
Proyecto Visi—n developed an infrastructure to 
support positive employment outcomes for Latinos 
with disabilities by bridging the culture/language 
gap, creating culturally appropriate responses to 
the groupâs particular needs and providing role 
models and mentors. 

In 2008, Proyecto Visi—n shifted its focus to Latino 
and other youth with disabilities from underserved 
populations, ages 16-35, so they may 
successfully transition from school to higher 
education and attain sustainable independent 
living and employment outcomes. Funded by the 
AT&T Foundation, the Verizon Foundation and the 
Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the 
program is using popular youth-friendly Internet 
sites to inspire our target population with short 
video clips of Success Stories and recruiting Latino 
and other youth with disabilities from underserved 
populations into our ongoing and highly successful 
Emerging Writers Program, part of the projectâs 
leadership development initiative. 

Proyecto Visi—n's program includes a website 
(www.proyectovision.net) featuring news, 
resources and opportunities for 
scholarships/internships/jobs; an electronic 
newsletter that highlights success stories about 
Latino and other youth with disabilities from diverse 
communities who found employment; a listserv that 
allows readers to interact with others facing similar 
issues; a Facebook page; and Success Story video 
clips posted on YouTube. 

For more information, contact Gabriel Many, 
Project Coordinator, at gabriel@wid.org. 

Technology Policy Program 

Society is increasingly dependent on information 
technology and social media for work and 
communication. People with disabilities are often 
not considered when equipment and services are 
designed and therefore are being left out due to 
inaccessible technology, further decreasing the 
capacity of this population to participate and 
contribute like their non-disabled peers. 

WID's Technology Policy Program provides 
training and technical assistance to the information 
technology and telecommunications industry to 
make their products and services accessible, 
develops public policy recommendations, and 
identifies best practices. The program is currently 
funded by the California Emerging Technology 
Fund to identify, evaluate and recommend 
solutions to access barriers in websites, programs, 
facilities and communications of all of CETF's 
grantees as well as to assist them to reach more 
people with disabilities in their programs and 
services. 

For more information, contact Thomas Foley, WID 
Deputy Director/Program Director, at 
tom@wid.org. 

Training and Public Education 

Corporations, government agencies and 
organizations hire WID to conduct trainings on 
disability awareness and etiquette, accommodating 
employees with disabilities, and increasing 
workplace diversity. WID's Training and Public 
Education Program also advises on access, 
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 
and other civil rights laws and offers additional 
training packages on Access to Medical Care; 
Working Without Losing Healthcare or Other 
Needed Benefits; Making Asset Building Programs 
Accessible to People with Disabilities; How to 
make Technology Accessible to People with 
Disabilities; and Including and Accommodating 
Persons with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness 
and Response Efforts. 

For more information, contact Thomas Foley, WID 
Deputy Director/Program Director, at 
tom@wid.org. 

Ever Widening Circle 

WID's annual gala event, Ever Widening Circle, 
celebrates disability culture and serves as a model 
for presenting entertainment that is accessible for 
all audiences. 

Past performances have included Janis Ian, Josh 
Blue, The Blind Boys of Alabama and 
internationally renowned AXIS Dance Company, 
comprised of dancers with and without disabilities. 

The success and visibility of Ever Widening Circle 
is the result of the strong collaborative ties 
between WID and its partners and sponsors. WID 
invites individuals and companies to join with us in 
our commitment to disability rights and support this 
gala event. 

For more information or if you are interested in 
becoming an Ever Widening Circle sponsor, 
contact Thomas Foley, WID Deputy Director, at 
tom@wid.org. 

Ed Roberts Campus 

WID is a proud Partner Agency of the Ed Roberts 
Campus (ERC), a nonprofit (501c3) corporation 
formed by seven disability organizations that share 
a common history in the Independent Living 
Movement of People with Disabilities to create an 
international center for the Independent Living 
Movement. This summer, WID will move its offices 
to the universally designed, transit-oriented 
campus, located at Berkeley, California's Ashby 
Bay Area Rapid Transit Station. This multi-modal 
transit orientation will allow WID staff and visitors 
easy access to local airports, buses, taxis and 
paratransit services and provide unprecedented 
access to all ERC organizations, activities and 
services. The ERC will offer an impressive array of 
disability-related services and programs in one 
totally accessible location; model integrated and 
accessible service delivery; serve as a national 
resource for research, legal analysis, education, 
training, and innovative program development; and 
provide training, technical assistance, and 
opportunities for collaboration with disability 
organizations worldwide. 

The universally designed building incorporates fully 
accessible exhibition space, community meeting 
rooms, a child development center, offices, 
vocational training facilities and a cafŽ; a helical 
ramp that permits easy access and safe 
evacuation; accessible elevators with automatic 
doors and wide corridors to create easy circulation; 
restrooms that accommodate all ability levels; 
specially designed signage and way-finding 
devices guide people who are blind or have low 
vision; and hands-free sensors and timers control 
lighting, acoustical, and security systems. 

World Institute on Disability
510 Sixteenth Street, Suite 100,Oakland CA 94612-1500
Phone: 510-763-4100
Fax: 510-763-4109 
Web: www.wid.org