AAHD Research Agenda 2025-2028

Improve the Quality, Equity and Utility of Disability Data

AAHD’s research team seeks to evaluate and advance disability data collection methods to ensure accurate, inclusive, and intersectional representation of people with disabilities in health and social data systems. Advancing high-quality, inclusive data infrastructures that accurately reflect disability prevalence, identity, and experience across diverse populations is an important research priority. This includes advocating for improved survey and administrative data measures that capture disability with precision and allow intersectional analysis of disability alongside race, gender, socioeconomic status, and other demographic factors.  Further, a continued commitment will be made to evaluate and improve measurement questions of disability in federal surveys (ACS, NHIS, etc.) while working towards greater opportunities for longitudinal disability data for trend analyses.

Goals

• Build policy-relevant evidence that strengthens federal and state disability data collection
• Develop data products that support researchers, policymakers, and community organizations
• Provide guidance for policymakers and agencies on inclusive disability data standards
• Develop measurement briefs and methodological recommendations

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Examine Disability Identity Development as a Driver of Health and Wellbeing

AAHD’s research team seeks to advance understanding of disability identity development across the life course and how it shapes health behaviors, healthcare and systems navigation, self-advocacy, community participation, and overall wellbeing. This work takes a life course perspective, examining how disability identity forms and evolves from childhood through adulthood and aging, while attending to the intersectional influences of race, gender, sexuality, culture, and socioeconomic status. By exploring the connections between identity development, healthcare engagement, resilience, and psychosocial wellbeing, this research aims to generate knowledge that informs more responsive health systems and supports the flourishing of disabled people across diverse lived experiences.

Goals

• Develop and contribute to theoretical frameworks that link disability identity to health outcomes.
• Develop practice-based recommendations for healthcare providers and community programs.

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Identify Structural Drivers of Health Equity for People with Disabilities

The AAHD research team seeks to identify and examine the structural drivers of health equity for people with disabilities by looking at how health systems, policies, and broader social drivers contribute to persistent health inequities. We seek to promote rigorous research on healthcare access, quality, and outcomes across diverse disability communities, while also investigating how factors such as accessible housing, education, employment, and community supports shape health and wellbeing. By analyzing the ways systems, policies, and institutional practices create or mitigate disparities and access barriers, research will generate evidence that informs structural change and advances equitable health outcomes for disabled people.

Goals

• Lead research to improve health justice
• Build evidence base that informs interventions and policy solutions reducing health inequities
• Develop strategic recommendations for health systems transformation
• Conduct health equity analyses and policy-relevant evidence
• Develop systems-level recommendations for healthcare and public health reform
• Create research products aligned with AAHD policy advocacy priorities

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Strengthen the Disability Research Ecosystem

AAHD’s research team seeks to strengthen the disability research ecosystem by advancing disability-led, participatory research that centers community leadership, lived expertise, and rigorous ethical standards. This work includes advocating for disabled people to be meaningfully included as participants and leaders in research, while building field-wide capacity through strategic partnerships, collaborative networks among academic institutions, community organizations, and policy stakeholders, and investments in community-engaged research infrastructure. AAHD also advances research-informed policy by advocating for sustained and coordinated federal disability research funding (i.e., NIDILRR, NIH) to support a more equitable, impactful, and integrated disability research ecosystem.

Goals

• Collaborate with others to advance disability research
• Support early career disability researchers in their careers
• Help to build a robust, sustainable research workforce that speaks to community needs
• Ensure that research agendas are co-designed with people with disabilities at all stages
• Provide guidance on accessible and ethical research design
• Provide recommendations to funders and institutions to strengthen disability research capacity
• Conduct research that respects autonomy, amplifies community priorities, and yields actionable insights
• Build increased trust and uptake of research findings within disability communities

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Translate Research Into Policy, Practice, and Community Impact

AAHD’s research team seeks to ensure that research meaningfully informs policy decisions, health system improvements, and community action through accessible, strategic dissemination. This work emphasizes translating evidence into actionable insights for policymakers, health practitioners, and community stakeholders through clear, accessible reports, policy briefs, toolkits, data visualizations, and targeted presentations to federal agencies, health systems, and academic audiences. By intentionally integrating research findings into AAHD’s policy and programmatic initiatives (See AAHD’s Policy Priorities here), the team strengthens the link between evidence generation and real-world impact.

Goals

• Build evidence that directly informs public policy, clinical practice, and community health strategies
• Conduct research dissemination activities that reach both technical and non-technical audiences