Marisa Lianggamphai
World Institute on Disability Communications Coordinator

Almost 40% of working-age people with disabilities live in poverty. Many people with disabilities find it difficult to obtain a job, much less save money. Other problems that people with disabilities face are getting proper access to health care or finding technology that works for them. WID works on many levels to help change these scenarios.

WID helps change public policies and systems that underlie these problems. For instance, one of the reasons why more people with disabilities aren't working is that they will lose health coverage essential to their disability if they go to work. WID identifies the main problems - public program rules that punish working and lack of information about new work incentives - and champions solutions like the work-friendly Medi-Cal Working Disabled Program. And because WID successfully pushed for California's AB 925 to become law, people with disabilities could now more easily work without losing health care and could also use their personal assistants in the workplace.

WID focuses on jobs, savings, health care, technology and helping the disability movement worldwide with our expertise. We provide research to justify funding disability causes, we help create disability-friendly laws and we train other organizations to do the same. We also train companies and government agencies on how they could better serve people with disabilities.

Another area where people with disabilities face trouble is getting proper health care. Sometimes, there is a lack of accessible equipment or accommodations, especially for people who are Deaf and speech- impaired. Or sometimes, the doctor does not have enough knowledge of disability and assumes that certain health problems are due to the disability when they're not.

WID trains doctors nationally in culturally competent care for people with disabilities. WID helped Kaiser Permanente develop a symposium and handbook to train doctors, and WID is now releasing a video on improving medical care for people with disabilities.

WID also works on the national and international level. WID's Proyecto Visión helps Latinos with disabilities nationally to find jobs (www.proyectovision.net). WID works with technology companies to make their products accessible. WID also trains disability organizations throughout the world on how to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities in their societies. Currently, WID is training disabled youth in Russia to advocate for their right to an education. WID's Disability World (www.disabilityworld.org) is the renowned international online magazine of disability news and views.

Access to Assets, which runs EQUITY e-newsletter, is WID's program to help people with disabilities participate in asset building programs. Asset building programs- such as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) - can help low-income people save money for a home, for an education or to start a small business. Access to Assets also helps the asset building community promote better access to their programs for people with disabilities. Each month, EQUITY covers how programs can reach out to disability communities, ask about disability and create better website accessibility.

WID involves ordinary people with disabilities in developing policy recommendations that affect their lives on the larger scale. By bringing together people at all levels- people with disabilities, government representatives and companies-WID is changing the way things run, to make sure people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Over 50% of board members and staff have disabilities. Our disability voice is well represented and our motto is "Run by people with disabilities for people with disabilities."

World Institute on Disability
510 16th Street, Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
816-235-6116
Voice: 510-763-4100
TTY: 510-208-9493
Website: www.wid.org
Email: wid@wid.org