Working together as neighbors: rehabilitation researchers and indigenous people with disabilities in Mexico

Abstract

Researchers from the American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (AIRRTC) have spent over a decade documenting the needs of American Indians with disabilities on a nationwide basis. In the past 5 years, AIRRTC research has been focused at the local community level, and has included American Indians with disabilities throughout the research via a participatory research process – from involvement in the design of the project, to instrument development, to data collection, to dissemination. Due to a supplemental grant that was awarded to the AIRRTC in 1994, researchers had the opportunity to extend the program of research and to share successful research strategies with Native Indian people in a country with which the US shares its southern border – Mexico. This international research effort was conducted in collaboration with Acceso Libre (Free Access), a consumer-initiated and consumer-driven organization serving people with disabilities in the state of Oaxaca. It is anticipated that such sharing of resources and information will benefit rehabilitation personnel in the US by highlighting the need for culturally-sensitive rehabilitation intervention with indigenous people.