The Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University received a $6.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, according to a Tuesday BBI news release.

The grant will be used to continue BBI’s leadership of the Atlanta-based Southeast ADA Center.

Peter Blanck, a professor in the SU College of Law and BBI chairman, said the grant, which will be dispersed over five years, will enable BBI to advance its work to increase knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Southeast. These activities act as a continuation of BBI’s longstanding mission, Blanck said.

‘In a nutshell, it’s to make people with disabilities, employers and everybody more aware of their rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act,’ Blanck said.

The ADA Center is one of 10 regional centers dealing with the ADA and accessible information technology, according to the release. It serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The center was established in 1991 and BBI has operated it since 2006, according to the release. It offers training and technical assistance to promote voluntary compliance with the ADA.

Twenty-one years after the ADA legislation was enacted, people with disabilities still need clarification about their rights under the ADA, according to the release. The Southeast ADA Center provides guidance by offering core services such as technical assistance, publications and materials dissemination, training, public awareness and referrals, according to the release.

Blanck said managing the Southeast ADA Center from the city of Syracuse during the past five years hasn’t been an issue because, as a partnership, they each have different roles. BBI provides certain expertise and the states work collaboratively to help have a real-world effect so everyone benefits, he said.

‘We can be very efficient using acceptable web-based technology, and at the same time, we have people in each of the states, so it’s proved to be very effective, actually,’ he said. ‘We try to make it as helpful as possible.’

egsawyer@syr.edu 

Published on October 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer