Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

Mission Statement

What we do

• Design and execute mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) process and outcome evaluations.
• Develop survey and interview instruments, informed by scientific literature and practice experience.
• Provide content expertise in Iowa’s behavioral health system, disability policy, population health, the criminal legal system, Medicaid, and workforce issues.
• Conduct collaborative and comprehensive data collection, prioritizing the perspectives of people with lived experience with policies and programs.
• Perform environmental scans to synthesize setting context, scientific literature, and secondary data sources.

• Offer training and technical assistance to community-based practitioners to support the implementation of evidence-based practices.

   

How we work 

• We bring our authentic selves to work and approach challenges with creativity, shared problem-solving, and mutual accountability.

• We uphold accurate, accessible, and contextualized reporting that serves the public interest.

• We reject the under-valuation of people with disabilities and advocate that a person’s inherent worth and contributions to society extend beyond employment and income status.

• We design research and reporting practices that center the lived experiences of people with disabilities, along with their natural support networks and Direct Support Professionals.

• We recognize that systemic barriers—such as the criminalization of mental illness and restrictive asset limits—are policy choices that undermine access to care, stability, dignity, and self-sufficiency.

• We strive to eliminate structural, cultural, and usability barriers, ensuring that systems, tools, and environments accomodate the full range of human needs and abilities.

• In our workplace, individuals are supported to contribute according to their ability and receive the flexibility and resources they need to thrive.

• We partner with communities to collaboratively create solutions that uphold autonomy, access, and well-being across health and human services.

Our work advances universal design and disability-affirmative, intersectional (anti-racist, anti-classist, and LGBTQIA+) approaches. We drive meaningful systemic and cultural change beyond compliance, toward fair access, abundant opportunity, shared power, and collective liberation.