Going Global: ICI (MN UCEDD) in Oman, Costa Rica, and Siberia

December 12, 2013

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) has long shared its expertise internationally. In recent months, Institute staff have connected with new international partners in Oman, Costa Rica, and Siberia to do innovative work focusing on young people with and without disabilities.

Through ICI's Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education, Christopher Johnstone of ICI and David Porcaro of Seward Incorporated received a $60,000, six-month contract from UNICEF Oman in April to conduct research on a proposed national "disability observatory" for children with disabilities and special needs. A disability observatory is both a Web-based database and an organization consisting of diverse stakeholders - parents, policymakers, and educators involved with children with disabilities - who guide the observatory's mission. The goals of this disability observatory are outreach, networking, maintaining and expanding the database, and research dissemination. "Oman has made considerable strides in the past 15 years in serving children with disabilities," says Christopher, "and this observatory would help greatly in developing future programs and policies based on timely, reliable, and useful data." The project, which ran from April to September 2013, included travel to Oman to interview stakeholders, and concluded with recommendations to UNICEF about the content and implementation of the observatory. Read More...