DURHAM, N.H. - The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire has been awarded a $499,999 Signature Employment Grant by Kessler Foundation to conduct the "Kessler Foundation National Employment Survey on the Status of Americans with Disabilities." The IOD will collaborate with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center on the project.

"This survey will allow us to establish a credible benchmark of the employment environment for people with disabilities," said Andrew Houtenville, Research Director at the Institute on Disability. "This new survey will help us gain insight into what strategies work and do not work for improving employment outcomes for this talented population. Survey results will inform the disability field as it strives to develop innovative and sustainable approaches to improving employment opportunities."

The IOD and UNH Survey Center will conduct a household telephone survey using landline and cell phone random digit dial of 3,000 adults, ages 18-64, with disabilities who live in the U.S. The Kessler Foundation Survey will identify the strategies that current and former workers with disabilities and employers used and did not use to obtain and maintain employment. The survey will also address factors that contributed to individuals with disabilities never working and what potential supports would help them strive for employment. Other points of inquiry include job-seeking strategies, personal accommodations, employer practices, experience dealing with barriers and the use and effectiveness of support services.

While the UNH Survey Center is responsible for field testing, making the calls, collecting data and providing data tables, the IOD will analyze the results—including descriptive statistics, confidence intervals and subgroup and hypothesis tests—and produce the final report. The sample size will allow for a national-level estimate with a margin of error of +/-1.8% and allow for analyses of subgroups based on demographics, region, disability type and employment status. The survey information will be available to individuals, families, service providers and employers and will educate research and advocacy efforts toward new employment approaches.

Survey results are expected to be announced by Kessler Foundation and UNH on Capitol Hill in June 2015.

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. Its mission is to promote full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons by strengthening communities and advancing policy and systems change, promising practices, education, and research.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.