Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Employment (Development)

Background:July 26, 2024, marked the 34th Anniversary of the signing into law of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the area of employment. Despite these protections, people with disabilities continue to experience disproportionately lower rates of employment than people without disabilities (nTIDE, 2025). In recent years, the trends in the employment-population ratio, the unemployment rate, and the labor force participation rate have improved for people with disabilities. However, these indicators continue to lag far behind those for people without disabilities.In 2023, 22.5 percent of people with a disability were employed- the highest recorded ratio since comparable data were first collected in 2008. The employment-population ratio for those without a disability, at 65.8 percent, increased by 0.4 percentage point in 2023. The unemployment rate for people with a disability (7.2 percent) was little changed in 2023, while the rate for those without a disability was unchanged over the year at 3.5 percent. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023).Trends in employment and labor force participation of people with disabilities appear to be leveling off after several years of increases that saw the narrowing of the gaps between people with and without disabilities (nTIDE 2024). The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities is about 41.3 percent. This is less than half the labor force participation rate of working-age people without disabilities (77.98%) (nTIDE, 2025). Federal and state employment policy initiatives aim to effectively improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Under Executive Order 13548 of July 26, 2010, the Federal government was required to focus on the recruitment and hiring of people with disabilities in the Federal workforce (Executive Order 13548 2010). The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Employment First (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021a), and the Employer Assistance and Resource Network (EARN) (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021b) exemplify multi-faceted strategies that support state efforts to increase access to education, training, and support services needed to obtain and retain employment. Collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies and service providers is also a key feature of these strategies. People with disabilities are a heterogeneous population with diverse strengths, needs, and preferences. Improving the employment outcomes of this broad population will require an increasingly robust research base that demonstrates and supports effective policies and practices. NIDILRR has funded a wide range of disability research and development projects in the area of employment. In accordance with NIDILRR’s Long Range Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028, NIDILRR seeks to build on this growing body of work by supporting innovative and well-designed research and development projects that generate knowledge and products that can be used to optimize employment outcomes among people with disabilities NIDILRR aims to fund three Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) on Employment for Individuals with Disabilities. NIDILRR's three field-initiated DRRP awards in the employment domain will be (1) research projects, (2) development projects, or (3) a combination of research and development projects, depending on the ranking of applications provided by the peer review panel. References:Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (1990). Executive Order No. 13548. (2010). Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals With Disabilities. Federal Register Vol 75, No 146: 45039-45041. Houtenville, A. & Boege, S. (2019). Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America: 2018. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED605685.nTIDE. (2025, January). nTIDE January 2026 Jobs Report: Encouraging Signs in Disability Employment. A Slow But Positive Trajectory. https://kesslerfoundation.org/press-release/ntide-january-2025-jobs-rep…. (2024, September). September 2024 Jobs Report: Gains in Employment for People with Disabilities Appear to Level Off After Reducing Gaps with Non-Disabled Workers https://kesslerfoundation.org/press-release/ntide-september-2024-jobs-r… Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Pub. L. 93-112 Stat. (1973). U.S. Department of Labor. (2021a, January). Employment First. Office of Disability Employment Policy. http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/employmentfirst.htm.U.S. Department of Labor. (2021b, January). Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN). Office of Disability Employment Policy. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/resources/earn.U.S. Department of Labor. (2024, February). Persons with A Disability: Labor Force Characteristics—2023. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/disabl.pdf.Priority:The Administrator of the Administration for Community Living establishes a priority for Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) on Employment of People with Disabilities. In carrying out a development project under this program, a grantee must use knowledge and understanding gained from research to create materials, devices, systems, methods, measures, techniques, tools, prototypes, processes, or intervention protocols that are beneficial to the target population.The DRRP must contribute to the outcome of maximizing employment outcomes of people with disabilities. To contribute to this outcome, research DRRPs must: Conduct development activities in one or more of the following priority areas, focusing on people with disabilities as a group or on people in specific disability or demographic subpopulations of people with disabilities:Technology to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.Individual and environmental factors associated with improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities.Interventions that contribute to improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Interventions include any strategy, practice, program, policy, or tool that, when implemented as intended, contributes to improvements in outcomes for people with disabilities.Effects of government policies and programs on employment outcomes for people with disabilities.Practices and policies that contribute to improved employment outcomes for transition aged youth with disabilities.Vocational rehabilitation (VR) practices that contribute to improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities; Demonstrate, in its original application, that people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds will be included in study samples in sufficient numbers to generate knowledge and products that are relevant to the racial and ethnic diversity of the population of people with disabilities being studied. The DRRP must describe and justify, in its original application, the racial and ethnic distribution of people with disabilities who will participate in the proposed development activities. Focus its development activities on a specific stage of development. If the DRRP is to conduct development activities that can be categorized under more than one stage including development that progresses from one stage to another, those stages must be clearly specified. These stages: proof of concept, proof of product, and proof of adoption are defined on ACL’s website. Applicants must justify the need and rationale for development at the proposed stage or stages and describe fully an appropriate methodology or methodologies for the proposed development work. Conduct knowledge translation activities (i.e., utilization, dissemination) in order to facilitate stakeholder (e.g., people with disabilities, employers, policymakers, practitioners) use of the knowledge, materials, devices, systems, methods, measures, techniques, tools, prototypes, processes, or intervention protocols that result from the development activities conducted under paragraph (a) of this priority. Involve people with disabilities and other key stakeholder groups in the activities conducted under paragraph (a) of this priority in order to maximize the relevance and usability of the knowledge and products to be developed under this priority.