Rooshey Hasnain: #ADA25 and Employment

Rooshey Hasnain is a scholar in the department of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, but her work centers on people with disabilities.

As a researcher, educator, and clinical professor with the Department of Disability and Human Development and the Asian American Studies Program (ASAM) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Dr. Hasnain is dedicated to understanding the lives, challenges, and strengths of people with disabilities and mental health issues, especially with Asians, refugees and immigrants.

Currently she directs the ASAM Community Engagement Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, which aims to build community-university partnerships on issue-based initiatives. She is also the principal investigator of the Asians with Disabilities Outreach Project Think-Tank (ADOPT), a state-funded systems-change initiative that seeks to address the employment gap among Asians with disabilities through an innovative combination of outreach strategies.

Dr. Hasnain’s work consistently focuses on bridging the service gap between U.S. disability service systems and hard-to-reach people with disabilities and their families. Her work on capacity-building research initiatives aims at developing community-centered advocacy, leadership, and quality-of-life outcomes.  .

Rooshey was kind enough to chat with me for Intersections Radio, my new show on KBOO Community Radio. It was the premier episode, with a focus on the intersection of race and disabilities as we gear up for the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990).

**This interview features new music by Kiran Ahluwalia

Check out the podcast!

Air date: 7/3/2015

You can also listen to the full broadcast and read the transcript!