National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research

About the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) ACL's National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is the federal government’s primary disability research organization. NIDILRR is part of the Administration for Community Living. NIDILRR's Mission NIDILRR’s mission is to generate new knowledge and to promote its effective use to improve the abilities of individuals with disabilities to perform activities of their choice in the community, and to expand society’s capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for its citizens with disabilities. NIDILRR achieves this mission by: - funding research, demonstration, training, technical assistance and related activities to maximize the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities of all ages; - promoting the transfer of, use and adoption of rehabilitation technology for individuals with disabilities in a timely manner; and - ensuring the widespread distribution, in usable formats, of practical scientific and technological information. NIDILRR addresses a wide range of disabilities and impairments across populations of all ages. NIDILRR’s Unique Role Across NIDILRR’s agenda, the central focus is on the whole person with a disability, whose ability to function and quality of life are dependent on the complex interactions among personal, societal, and environmental factors. NIDILRR plays a unique role in that its target population includes all disability types and all age groups. Whereas other federal research entities fund prevention, cure, and acute rehabilitation research, NIDILRR also invests in rehabilitation research that is tied more closely to longer-term outcomes, such as independence, community participation, and employment.