Purpose of the VOSAP Research Initiative is to strengthen the VOSAP mission of Advocacy with data, research, findings so it has credibility. Disability sector is ignored and suffering a lot based on “Perceptions” and lack of data. Reality is very different, changing rapidly with emergence of UN CRPD, technology revolution etc. To change narrative of Disability, the VOSAP Collegiate team started a research initiative to show the world the true picture.
28 Interns (undergraduate and graduate students) from USC, UCLA, UNC, Chapel Hill, NorthWestern, UT, Austin, Cornell, Skidmore etc. universities participated in 10 weeks of rigorous research internship covering various topics related to Disability. Within the program, the interns has to provide weekly deliverables of their findings and showcase their learnings. Many of the interns from the program have been inspired to continue working with VOSAP to advance their research efforts to make a Disproportionate impact for millions of people.
VOSAP had started the program with universities to help students conduct research round the year. UC, Berkley was the first to start a VOSAP club.
Here is a list of projects conducted by summer interns along with the link for Executive summary.
| No. | Title of Research Project | Team of Interns | Link for Executive Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Legal Milestones in the Disability Sector: An International Study on Employment | Kassidy Hamilton, Cornell
Katelyn Lee, USC |
Click here |
| 02 | Economic Returns of Nations Investing in Specially Abled People | Caleb Li, Northwestern
Matthew You, Northwestern Sarthak Pant, Skidmore |
Click here |
| 03 | Wall of Exclusion: The Americans With Disability Act’s Failure to Close the Employment Gap | Shauli Bar-On, USC | Click here |
| 04 | Study of the Inclusion of Specially Abled People in Corporate Advertising and Marketing | Julia Lin, USC | Click here |
| 05 | Inclusion of Specially Abled People in Hollywood | Jacqueline Martinez, USC | Click here |
| 06 | Disability Inclusion Index (DII) for Corporations | Esha Parikh, UNC Chapel Hill
Anna Sheehan, Northwestern |
Click here |
| 07 | Disability Inclusion Index (DII) for Universities | Nicole Elliot, UCLA | Click here |
| 08 | Comparative Study of Assistive Technologies & Their Use in Education | Nehali Shah, UT, Austin
Sarah Schaefer, USC |
Click here |
| 09 | Comparative Study on Accessibility Across the United States | Nia Hammet, Unc, Charlotte
Holly McCauley, USC Harshil Shah, High School |
Click here |
| 10 | Evolution of Inclusion In the U.S. for Specially Abled People | Emily Kennedy, UCLA | Click here |
| 11 | Developing an Interactive Dashboard on Disability Population in the U.S. with Trends Analysis | Jiawei Wang, USC | Click here |
| 12 | Impact of Covid-19 on Measles and Rubella Related Disabilities Following Vaccine Campaign Postponement | Shaneel Badani, BU
Claire Post, USC Amanda Hmelar, USC |
Click here |
| 13 | A Study on Disability Representation in Individually-Curated Video Content | Eshana Seshadri, USC | Click here |
| 14 | Accessibility Solutions in Public Transportation – Comparative Study of Evolution in India and selected 5 Countries | Suhas Peela, USC
Nupur Jain, NCSU, Raleigh |
Click here |
