Research & Publications

BBI is globally regarded as a leader in disability research

BBI is globally recognized as a leader in disability research. BBI’s strength is its ability to conduct scientifically rigorous and yet practically relevant research, producing studies that have influenced public policy and positively advanced the lives of people with disabilities. BBI engages in multi-method empirical research by blending quantitative, qualitative, and archival methods of data collection and analysis using evidence-based measures from multiple disciplines.

Research is conducted using principles of participatory action research (or community-based participatory research), which engages stakeholders in partnership with researchers to work as teams that create scientifically-based, relevant knowledge. By working with stakeholders from the start, knowledge translation becomes a continuous process, ensuring research is used in meaningful ways to create change and impact.

Featured Publications

Advanced Introduction to U.S. Disability Law by Peter Blanck

Advanced Introduction to U.S. Disability Law book CoverAdvanced Introduction to U.S. Disability Law provides a timely and accessible overview of disability law in the United States, focusing primarily on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the ‘ADA’). Peter Blanck addresses the social and legislative history leading up to the development of the ADA; coverage and remedies under the ADA’s three main titles; some of the fundamental and recent cases informing the ADA’s interpretation; and current issues facing U.S. courts, law makers, and policy makers.
Advanced Introduction to U.S. Disability Law published by Elgar Advanced Introductions series

Disability Law and Policy by Peter Blanck

Disability Law and Policy book Cover
Peter Blanck’s new book entitled Disability Law and Policy book was released in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Disability Law and Policy provides an overview of the themes and insights in disability law. It is a compelling compendium of stories about how our legal system has responded to the needs of impacted individuals.
Disability Law and Policy is published by Foundation Press and is available for pre-order from the West Academic

Supported Decision-Making: From Justice for Jenny to Justice for All! by Jonathan Martinis and Peter Blanck

Supported Decision Making Book Cover
The Burton Blatt Institute is proud to announce the release of Supported Decision-Making: From Justice for Jenny to Justice for All!  written by by Jonathan Martinis and Peter Blanck. Jonathan Martinis and Peter Blanck tell Jenny’s story, including how she lost her rights under guardianship and won them back when she showed the court that she uses Supported Decision-Making (SDM) to make her own decisions with help from people she trusts. They’ll also show you how you can use SDM in your life, with family members, or people you support. They’ll give you practical tips and model language to help you request, receive, and use SDM in the programs and life areas people with disabilities use every day, including Special Education, Vocational Rehabilitation, Person Centered Planning, Health Care, Money Management, and others.
Read The Washington Post press release

Heavy Laden: Union Veterans, Psychological Illness, and Suicide by Larry Logue and Peter Blanck

Heavy Laden Book Cover
The Burton Blatt Insitute is proud to announce the release of Heavy Laden: Union Veterans, Psychological Illness, and Suicide.  written by Larry Logue and Peter Blanck and published by Cambridge University Press. According to noted Historian James Martin, “Larry M. Logue and Peter Blanck have provided a straightforward and extremely useful book that lays out a common sense and productive approach to the problem of what they call “the delayed human cost of the Civil War’s psychological traumas” (p. 6). They lead off with a thorough, if brisk, summary of the recent surge in studies of Civil War veterans. Logue and Blanck then methodically use the evidence from the unusually complete Massachusetts death records and the military and pension records of nearly forty thousand Union veterans embedded in the Early Indicators of Later Work Levels, Disease, and Death database at the University of Chicago to test theories and established procedures for quantifying suicide rates in peacetime and in wartime.”
Read Full Review

eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons with Cognitive Disabilities, by Peter Blanck

Equality Book cover
The Cambridge University Press is proud to announce the release of eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons with Cognitive Disabilities written by Dr. Peter Blanck, Ph.D., J.D.  The book will be formally released at the Fourteenth Annual Conference on Cognitive Disability and Technology.  Commissioned by the Coleman Institute, this exceptional book examines the rights of individuals with cognitive disabilities to equal access to web content protected under law.

Supported Decision-Making: Theory, Research, and Practice to Enhance Self-Determination and Quality of Life, co-authored by Karrie Shogren, Michael Wehmeyer, Jonathan Martinis, and Peter Blanck

Supported Decision Making Book cover
“Supported Decision-Making: Theory, Research, and Practice to Enhance Self-Determination and Quality of Life” comprehensively examines supported decision-making and how it can be applied in policy and practice for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Published by Cambridge University Press.
Read more press releases and learn more about Supported Decision-Making: Theory, Research, and Practice to Enhance Self-Determination and Quality of Life

 

 

Recent Publications

2024

2023

2022

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2020

2019

2018

Heavy Laden: Union Veterans, Psychological Illness, and Suicide (2019)
Author(s): Larry Logue & Peter Blanck

“The Right to Make Choices”: Supported Decision-Making Activities in The United States. (2018)
Author(s): Peter Blanck & Jonathan Martinis

An Overview of Supported Decision in Serious Mental Illnesses (2018)
Author(s): Dilip V. Jeste, Graham M. L. Eglit, Barton W. Palmer, Jonathan G. Martinis, Peter Blanck & Elyn R. Saks


Regulatory and Legislative Comments